Caged Bird
by Miranda Tam
Summary: After Amy, Dan, and Nellie visit the Caribbean they go to the US, but Amy is captured by Isabel Kabra as a tool to control Ian. Of course, Amy isn't going quietly... Amy/Ian, Secret agent!Nellie, rated T for kissing scenes, mild swears, paranoia. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is my first 39 clues fic, set after the ninth book, despite the ninth book not being out yet. Here, Amy and Dan and Nellie, a Madrigal agent, have discovered that the next clue is salt, and are going to San Francisco to look at Alcatraz. I will be switching PoV's, and this is going to be rated T because it involves a lot of Amy/Ian, and tell me if you have any interesting plot points. I'll be posting this story as I write it, so some chapters will be shorter than others, and keep in mind that I like cliffhangers. **

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to the various authors of the 39 clues books, and I only own the plot.**

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_I hate crowds,_ Amy Cahill thought. _Most of all, I hate crowds from different countries._ Amy and her brother, Dan, and their Au Pair slash secret Madrigal agent, Nellie, were in a Haitian airport. They were looking for tickets to the United States, the small plane that they had come on not being able to travel that far over water. They had finally gotten three seats on Koulev Airlines, a local airline that wasn't very much in the U. S.

"Uh, guys?" Nellie asked. "I think that you should see–"

She was cut off by the loudspeaker announcing that their flight was boarding.

"C'mon, Nellie!" Dan was already halfway to the airplane. "We can't miss this flight!"

"But–"

Nellie was cut off again by Amy. "He's right, we should go."

Nellie sighed in defeat.

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Only when the free meal included with the flight was arriving did Dan say, "Oh, yeah, Nellie, what were you trying to say, at the terminal?"

Nellie sighed impatiently. "Well, it won't matter now, but we shouldn't be here."

"Did we board the wrong plane? Is someone else here?" Amy asked, taking a sip of her water, as Nellie drank her coke and Dan was digging in to some chicken.

"No. Much worse. Much, much worse. Do you know what 'Koulev' means in Haitian?"

Amy shook her head.

"Snake. Koulev means Snake."

_Snake?_ Amy thought impatiently, feeling sleepy. _Why does snake matter?_ As she looked over to her brother, she saw him snoring, and Nellie as well. The puzzle pieces clicked together. _Snake…Cobra. Kabra._

She looked at a flight attendant, wearing a familiar smirk. She had one coherent thought before the sleeping drug overcame her system.

_Isabel._

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Isabel smirked. Her plan had worked perfectly. Halfway through the flight, the lights would go out, and some attendants would carry Amy into the back of the plane while erasing all evidence that she had been on the flight. She had only needed Amy, not Dan, because ever since the incident with the helicopter and the poison, Ian had been quiet, and it was all too apparent that next time, he would openly defy her to save the Cahill girl. Now, with the root of the problem hostage, Isabel could threaten her and make sure that Ian behaved. His little "crush" had flourished since Mount Everest. He had almost defied her at the airport, and he had openly defied her with their plans in the Caribbean – she had had to have her bodyguards restrain him. More recently, he had been quiet and sulky, and Isabel had only gotten a response from him when she said that their next mission would be against the Cahills. Of course, she hadn't said what the mission was, or whether she was bringing him or not. She had taken a lot of effort to get Ian to obey until now, but now, Amy was captured, and her other measures against a revolt from Ian were hardly necessary.

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Amy woke with a groan. How long had she been out? Where was she? Why wasn't Dan here? Where was Nellie?

She blinked. She was staring up at a silvery ceiling, possibly made of titanium. She was in what looked like a sleek, shiny jail cell, one wall being composed of vertical and horizontal bars. Outside, there was a long corridor, devoid of any decoration except for a tiny window, which a small shaft of sunlight peeked through. _Perfect,_ she thought. _Captured by the Kabras. I wonder what Isabel wants this time?_ Her query was quickly answered by the sound of approaching footsteps. Isabel herself strode down the corridor, looking very pleased with herself. _Calm down,_ Amy cautioned herself. _Don't let her get you mad._

"So. You're awake."

_Duh._ "Obviously." Amy replied, doing her best impression of Professor Snape.

Isabel seemed slightly taken aback, but then recovered. "Well then. How do you like your new… room?" her lip curled upwards. "I hope you find it _Comfortable_."

Amy glanced back. _Lucian crest on the bed. Threadbare titanium walls. Bars._ "Am I… supposed to like it?" she drawled, still imitating the imaginary potions teacher. "I suppose I am in your little hidey-hole in Paris?"

"America, actually. Not that it matters. You are here because I see fit for you to be here, and because you will be of help sorting out a small… problem I have. Actually, two. The first relates to you and your brother's participation in the games. I will shortly be filming a message to take to your brother, including a short message from you to him. I will, naturally, be editing out any classified material, especially our location and your other purpose."

"Which is?"

"Your other purpose… I have been having some trouble making someone behave. _You_, Amy, are my insurance that that someone doesn't disobey me."

"And the person's identity?"

"Ian says hello."

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Closer examination of the cell proved that it was foolproof. Even though Nellie had schooled her in the fine art of lock picking and her picks were secure in her retainer, there were no locks to pick. All of Amy's knives had been removed, except her small, plastic throwing knives, carefully hidden in her, ah, _unmentionables_. They had even taken Grace's necklace, along with the tiny metal knife she concealed in it. Luckily, since they had discovered Nellie's secret job, and the fact that Nellie herself was actually a Cahill, she and Dan had taught Amy about Wushu and other martial arts. She had also learned Morse code and how to throw small knives, like her plastic ones. They were less detectable than metal knives, and just as sharp. Unfortunately, the knives wouldn't be useful yet, as she had no way of getting out of her cell. The only thing she could do would be to wait, exercise, and practice throwing knives with the makeshift ones she could make from the plastic fork and spoon she got to eat with.

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Ian Kabra had been sleeping when the doorbell rang. His mother had restricted him to his rooms in Washington, DC, after she discovered that he had actually gone on a _date_ with Amy Cahill in Jamaica and not captured, killed, or squeezed her for information. She was even more livid when she discovered that he had allowed _Nellie Gomez_, the Madrigal's _top spy_, to supervise them. So when he opened his door to his smirking mother, he knew that there couldn't be any good news.

"Hello, Ian."

"What do you want, mother?" he asked tiredly. "I know that you've a reason to be here, so just get to the point."

"Well, if you insist," Isabel's voice was abrupt. "I'll get straight to the point. We have Amy."

"_What?_ Ian felt like he had just had the wind knocked out of him. "That's impossible."

"I'd suggest you reconsider what's impossible and what's not, young man. And I recommend that you think your options through before you act on them." With that, she pressed something cool into Ian's hand and walked away, leaving him speechless.

Ian glanced down into his hand, and groaned. It was all true. Even though Amy wasn't sure if she returned his affections and had proclaimed as much, they had her. She would never take off what he had in his hands.

Unless forced, she would never take off Grace's Necklace.

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**Please, review! Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter! Woo! Okay, so second chapter is up. I experimented a little bit with the writing styles, and I tried to make the individual sections longer. Unfortunately, some of them are short. Also, I added a little twist that you might like at the end! **** Tell me whether it's a good idea or not. **

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_I am in so much trouble,_ Nellie thought. First, one of her charges went missing, probably kidnapped by the most ruthless person since Adolf Hitler. Second, an as-yet-unknown person had left a note on her bed. One simple note. _Try DC._ One simple note, one big problem. She had her suspicions about where the note had come from. Third, her other charge had decided to act on the note, running off to DC himself, telling her to call him if she decided to come. Of course she was coming.

And that was where all of her problems were stemming from. If she didn't get herself to DC in less than 8 hours, Dan would probably get himself killed. And the only way to do that was a private jet.

Nellie sighed. She hated flaunting her authority.

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_I am in so much trouble,_ Amy thought. She had just learned that she was being held captive because the world's top psychopath (Isabel Kabra) was jailing her… acquaintance. She didn't know if she could even call him her friend. After their… get-together, The Kabra children had set up (yet another) almost-deadly trap. Amy was sure that Ian hadn't seen her, though Natalie definitely had. Ian had seen the Cahills' Uncle, Alistar Oh, who they had teamed up with on numerous occasions. Of course, he had also betrayed them on many occasions. Just like everyone else. Including Grace.

Thinking of Grace almost broke her calm demeanor. Grace was her grandmother, the only person aside from Nellie who had really cared about Amy and Dan. She had been training them for the 39 clues hunt since they were little. In Egypt, they had realized that the Cahills included many famous people, who had done many great things. Great political leaders, great musicians, great warriors. Great scientists to invent the Atomic Bomb. Great rouges and murderers like their parents.

Thinking of the terrible things that their branch and others had done nearly broke her calm face again. She had been working with Nellie to get rid of her stutter and not show as much fear. Unless something really rattled her, she could mask her emotions. She was still terrified on the inside; she just wouldn't let it show.

Footsteps echoed down the hall.

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_I am in such deep trouble,_ Ian thought. He was going to see Amy, whether his mother wanted him to see her or not. As soon as he could see her, he started running. They were keeping her in a _cage!_ Like an _animal!_ "Amy! Are you all right?"

"What do you think?" her voice was ice-cold. That brought him back a step.

"I'm sorry, ah, that was stupid of me. But… it's okay. I can get you out of here."

"No."

"What?" but… what? Ian was bewildered. Didn't she _want_ to get out of here?

"You heard me the first time. No. I'm not falling for any more Kabra tricks. Paris. Venice. Korea. Don't get me started about Australia and the many times in Africa. Remember what happened on Everest. And… that time in the Caribbean."

_What time in the Caribbean? She couldn't have known about… unless… oh, no. No, no, no._

"Really? Didn't hear that from Natalie? _She_ saw me. Maybe she forgot to tell you?" Her voice dropped what little emotion it had. "I don't trust you, Ian. Go away."

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_I am in sooo much trouble,_ thought Natalie. Ian was knocking on her door. Well, more like banging. "_What?_" she yelled back.

"_Let me in!_" was the muffled response.

Natalie sighed and pressed a button, and the door opened. Ian stormed into her room, looking furious.

Natalie sighed. She knew what he was here about. "I know what you're here about. You're here about that stupid Cahill girl and the avalanche at the cave. Yes, I saw her there. No, I didn't tell you."

"Why?" Ian was keeping his voice at a lower volume, though he sounded very strained.

"Honestly?" Natalie shrugged. "Because it wouldn't make a difference. I only saw her once they were getting out. And by then, they were… out." Natalie pressed another button, and Ian was deposited outside her door, a thoughtful look on his face.

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_I am in so much trouble,_ thought Dan. _Getting lost in America's Capital has been cool, but now…_ Dan decided that getting cornered in an alley by the gigantic Holts was _not_ his idea of fun. He should be at the Lincoln memorial by now. Nellie had called him and told him to meet her there. Of course, the Holts had "just happened" to be in DC at that time, and "just happened" to be on the street he was at. Since they had him cornered, they were now grilling him. They knew where Nellie was, but…

"Where's Amy?" asked Hamilton. He seemed unusually fierce. "You two _always_ are together, so she's nearby. _Where is she?_"

"She's not here." He half shouted back. "We _think_ she's somewhere in DC, but maybe you should ask the _Kabras_ where she is." He felt a tear running down his cheek, and saw the Holts looking back at him, stunned.

Hamilton was the first one to break the silence. "No." his voice was rough. "No, no, no, no. She can't be with Isabel. Please tell me that it's some other Kabras."

Dan shook his head. "Can't, dude. Amy is in the hands of our very own resident psychopath and her freaky children." His eyes widened as enlightenment dawned. "That's why she needed Amy. Ian must be misbehaving. You guys… know about Ian, right?"

"What about Ian?" Hamilton seemed ready to faint. The other Holts were still frozen in shock. "What – exactly – do we not know about Ian?"

"Ian's sort of… in love with Amy. They sort of… went on a date in the Caribbean."

"They _what_? He _what_? Does she… like him?" Hamilton was unusually pale.

"I don't know…" Dan replied. "But why… oh, man. Hammer… you like Amy."

"Yeah." Hamilton's voice was a whisper. "Yeah. I like Amy."

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**So! Interesting twist, huh? If it continues, then Ian and Hamilton will meet up sometime at a later date…**

**Anyway, thanks for all of the reviews and subscriptions/favorites! I don't update very regularly, so I recommend you subscribe if you like it.**

**Please, any recommendations are welcome, but I do not control my characters. They do as they see fit, so if I don't implement your suggestion, berate them, not me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! I'm sorry for the wait, I am a MAJOR procrastinator and I had Science Fair this week. Either way, I own nothing except the plot, it all belongs to the various authors of the 39 clues, of whom I am **_**so**_** envious.**

**Either way, here's the third chapter!**

Amy came to with a groan. _What?_ The last thing that she remembered was… um… dinner! Yes, that was it. And then… nothingness? Blackness? Why was she _coming to?_ Why not just waking up?

"So. You're Awake!" Oh, god. There was only one person in the Kabra family who could be that awake and chipper, and still be deadly.

"Hi, Natalie." Amy groaned. "Get to the point. What happened?"

"Well, if you're going to be such a grouch." She wrinkled her nose. "The Ekats were smarter than we thought. It must be some kind of a record. Your first kidnap attempt in twenty-four hours."

"Don't you mean 're-kidnap?'" Amy muttered. "Who was it? Uncle Alistair? Bae Oh? Someone completely different?"

"It was Bae Oh. Something about keeping you drugged and then ransoming you to the highest bidder." Natalie grinned wolfishly. " Sorry about the thing with the sharks, by the way. Mother really likes sharks."

"No k-kidding," Amy muttered under her breath. The stutter was back. Amy sat up and blinked. The bars were gone. Amy swung her legs down to the floor and stood up, surreptitiously reaching for her necklace knife and mentally groaned. The necklace was gone, probably to Isabel. She instead got one of her makeshift plasticware knives and prepared to throw it and run.

"The Ekats have figured something out about the next clue _and_ something about you, and we think that they're linked. Unfortunately, we haven't figured anything out yet."

Amy threw the knife and ran. Hopefully, Natalie would be distracted by the sharpened spoon racing towards her and forget all about Amy. As Amy raced to the exit, suddenly, out of nowhere, she tripped over something. _An invisible trip wire!_

"I _told_ Mother that the wire was a good idea." Natalie's face appeared over Amy, smirking… and carrying a dart gun. Amy groaned.

The last thing Amy heard was Natalie's evil snicker.

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"So."

Dan, Hamilton, and Reagan fidgeted while Nellie inspected them.

"You two will be tagging along?" Nellie raised an eyebrow. "How do we know that they're not just here to steal the clues?"

"I dunno about Reagan, but Hammer's okay." Dan spoke up. "You remember the times he worked with us?" Nellie glared at him. "Oh, yeah. That was when we, ah, 'forgot' to tell you. Sorry about that." Nellie's glare tripled in its intensity while Hamilton and Reagan tried to stifle their giggles.

"Fine." Nellie sighed. "I know DC is a Lucian stronghold, though everyone else also has a small building. Do you two know where the stronghold is located?"

Reagan and Hamilton shook their heads. "Sorry, nope." Hammer replied.

"Actually," Reagan interrupted. "I don't _know_, but I have a pretty good guess."

"What?" Dan demanded.

"Lucians value power, right?" Reagan asked.

"We all knew that," Nellie mumbled.

"I think I see where you're going with that!" Dan exclaimed.

"Enlighten us then, kiddo."

"So, Lucians value power. Who was one of the most powerful people in America?"

Reagan jumped in. "Who held power? Who was one of the people who fought against extreme odds – and won?"

"Who had the power, strength, and cunning to make a nation out of thirteen small colonies?" Hamilton asked, finally understanding.

"Okay, kids, perfect." Nellie replied. "Let's head on over to the Washington Monument."

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Amy was dreaming. She was dreaming about something that had actually happened in the past, about a conversation with Nellie.

_They are in New Zealand, near the Madrigal base. They had gone there directly after Mount Everest, and Amy has immediately fallen in love with the scenery. They are sitting at the edge of a small cliff, with the wind blowing the hair back from their faces. After a few moments of quiet, Nellie speaks. "I wasn't always a Madrigal." She remarks, staring up at the clouds racing across the sky._

_Amy sits up. "Really? What branch did you belong to?" This is new information. Some people are born Madrigals, descendants of Madeline, the fifth Cahill. Some join the Madrigals out of disgust at the killing that goes on in the branches._

"_I was Janus, like our freaky cousin Jonah." She sits up too. "After I finished training as a weapons master and martial artist, I stole a few things for the Janus. My first 'real' job, of course, was an assassination. The Janus didn't like the current Dalai Lama." She says, her tone flat. "I refused to kill someone who was sworn to peace. I ran away." She says. "After about a year of wandering, I ended up here. The Madrigals picked me up and explained their cause, to promote peace. I joined, but I didn't really trust them. You know the stories that the branches spread about Madrigals." Nellie pauses for a moment, reminiscing. "That all changed when I saw them surrender a fight and lose a clue because they didn't want any innocent passerby to get hurt or die. Because you see, while all the other four had fairly loud or exciting talents, Madeline and her descendents have two great and silent gifts: the ability to convince people to work together, and a good heart. The only people Madrigals will kill are those who deserve it. It's so deeply engraved into their DNA, even people like you, who had no clue what being a Madrigal meant, were willing to save other people who have not done much wrong, like Ian on Mount Everest."_

"_But Ian did lots of evil," Amy protests. "What made me save the double-crosser?" She falls silent, thinking about the many times Alistair had double-crossed her and Dan, though never leaving them to die, and even twice willing to die or get gravely injured for them._

_Nellie nods, almost reading Amy's thoughts. "Alistair has a little Madrigal blood in him. It's done the man tons of good." They fall silent again, watching the patterns of the ocean waves. "Ian… is misguided. You know Isabel. You know she pushes him to do all sorts of things. I think that the whole 'fall-in-love-with-me' was Isabel's idea, but then Ian found a small glitch."_

"_What was that glitch?" Amy asks. She thinks she knows what Nellie will say, but she doesn't want to admit it._

"_He fell for you," was Nellie's reply. "I know you don't want to admit it. I know how badly he hurt you. And I know that he's sincere. Our tail on the Kabras said that after the shark incident, Ian went to his room and cried."_

"_Cried?" Amy lays down incredulously. "Ian doesn't cry. Or wail, or sob."_

"_But he did. And however much you try to deny it, I think he well and truly cares for you."_

Amy woke up. She knew he was sincere. And she knew what she had to do.

**Sorry, I like cliffhangers.**

**Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Dan was anxious. He, Nellie, Hamilton, and Reagan had been searching for Amy for two long, rainy weeks. The rain had started two days after Amy had gotten captured, and hadn't stopped since. If Isabel was mistreating Amy…

Dan shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. Reagan looked at him questioningly, and Dan shook his head no. Over the past week, they had developed an emotions-thought-body language communication almost as good as his and Amy's. Reagan nodded her head in understanding. She was almost as frustrated as Dan was – Amy hadn't been at any of the places that they had checked, and Hamilton was going crazy. Things were coming to a boil, and sometime soon, things were going to boil over. And he wasn't just talking about all of this water.

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Hamilton was hopeless. They had checked seventeen – _seventeen_ – different places in Washington that had prominent people, and not one of them even had a hint about where Amy might be, though they had found the Ekaterina and Janus bases. Nellie and Dan had already known where the Madrigal base was. The Madrigals had no clue where the Lucian base was – it was perhaps the most well hidden base in the world, aside from their own. Hamilton was still looking, though. He was searching the Museum of American History, along with Reagan and Amy. Nellie was pouring over secret Madrigal maps. Just then, he heard a little girl chirp, "Look, mommy! It's a snake!" Hamilton looked over to where the family was. They were at one of the maps.

"Don't be silly," the mother said crisply. "There is no snake." Then she looked right at him. "Come on, Nataliya. Let's see some more exhibits." As she walked past Hamilton, she whispered, almost imperceptively. "If Isabel knew I was doing this, I would bleed to death. She then pressed a small computer chip into his hand.

Hamilton was left standing there for a few minutes, and then hurried over to the map. If he squinted, he could see that the buildings made the shape of the Lucian crest. The only difference was one building that was out of place. He memorized which building, then went to tell the rest of the crew. Things were coming to a boil, and sometime, preferably soon, things were going to boil over. And it wouldn't be pretty for Isabel or anyone else in his path.

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Nellie was annoyed. Surely there would have been a record of the base _some_where! But, sadly, there wasn't. The only thing left to do was to search all of the museums top to bottom, and hope that the base wasn't in a private home or mansion or something. She had been through almost every Lucian file she could find, trying to get a clue about where the base was. Ha, ha. Get a clue. Nellie rolled her eyes. Her mental humor was taking a turn for the worse. As Nellie left the base, she stepped on a little bit of paper. She picked it up and prepared to throw it away – and froze once she saw what it was.

A little coupon for Microwavable Burritos.

On the back was a place and time. _Jefferson Memorial, 1:30._ She checked her watch. It was 1:00, giving her just enough time to get there. It could be a trap, but she had a feeling that it wasn't.

As Nellie stepped of the bus to the memorial, she had to take out her umbrella. It had been raining not too hard, not too light until two days ago, when there was a sudden downpour that left you soaked in half a minute. She walked up to the Jefferson statue and stared at it. Five minutes later, someone walked up behind her. The rest of the memorial was empty, seeing as how the tourists didn't like getting wet. She courteously waited until the person spoke to turn around and greet them.

"Hello, my dear. I was hoping you got my note." Said a soft voice.

Nellie turned around and grinned. If they were meeting everyone in DC, then things were beginning to boil, and sometime or another, sooner by the looks of things, everything was going to boil over. And when it did, she wanted only the best to be watching her back. "I was hoping we could count on you, Alistair."

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Amy was happy. After the poison dart gun incident, she had manacles around her wrists connected by an iron chain (Isabel clearly wanted to intimidate her), which was, in turn, chained to the wall. She had been lying on her bed for most of the past two weeks, right under a tiny crack in the cell through which a small drop of water dripped a few times every second. She was wet, but happy. Operation: Get the Hell Out of These Manacles was almost a success. Now, all it would take was a few more hours. She hoped that Isabel wouldn't notice. If she did, then the Operation would be more difficult, though not impossible. Isabel had made a grave mistake trying to restrain Amy using iron. Amy internally grinned. Things were coming to a boil, and sooner or later, in a few hours, hopefully, something was going to boil over. Now all that Amy had to do was to get out of these bars.

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Isabel Kabra was furious. Amy was just sitting there, doing… nothing. How exciting. She had ten people monitoring from the nanocamera planted in Amy's room. Of course, it being a Nanocamera, it had horrible resolution (or at least, for the Kabra family it was horrible. For the rest of the normal world, it was normal resolution.). The girl wasn't even responding to her fear tactics, like the iron chains. Isabel had gone to a lot of work to get those! She had actually had to write an order to do it herself, instead of ordering a lackey to do it like she normally did. As she stared at the screen, thinking up horrible ideas, she caught a glimpse of a small glimmer in the air, right above Amy. "What's that?" she snapped at the woman manning the console.

The woman shrugged, and replied "just a small leak, we think. Just a few drops. It's been dropping for a week or two, now. Why?" She asked a livid Isabel.

"How did that drop get there?" Isabel asked, barely restraining her anger.

"Well, we think that it rusted… through…" the technician figured it out at the same time Isabel did.

"Immediate lockdown! High security breach! Code red!" Isabel snapped. She glanced at the screen, blinked, and looked again. Amy had vanished. "Get me down there!" She yelled as she raced to the elevator. "prisoner level, Cahill!" Isabel tried to be patient as the elevator raced down. As Isabel neared the cell, she gave the code to open the bars and walked in.

"You know, Isabel, you might not want to leave these bars open." Said a voice behind her.

Isabel whirled around and began to give the code to lock the bars, but–

"Someone might escape," said Amy Cahill, and knocked Isabel out cold.

**Finally! The fated escape! What will Amy do next? Will she get out of the Lucian base alive? Will she find Dan, Nellie, Hamilton, and Reagan? Will she find Ian? What will Alistair do? Stay tuned and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Amy twisted and turned, taking random turns and hoping that she would get out of the base sometime before she got caught. She made a quick right, a left, and she found an elevator. The only direction to go was up. She dashed into the empty elevator and pressed the top button, kindly labeled 'exit.' When the elevator dinged, she pressed herself against the side before peeking out into an empty hallway. As Amy ran out into the corridor, she noticed that the base was strangely quiet. She skidded to a halt in front of a partially – opened door. As she peered in, she gasped. There was a flashing green and black sign on the wall that said, INTRUDER ALERT: JANUS. Next to it was a map. She memorized the way out and ran through the twisting hallways. As she came to a door, she realized one flaw in her plan; how was she going to open the door? The door didn't have a handle or any hinges. It only had a small, square indentation that looked like it was meant for a computer chip. As Amy contemplated what to do, there was a hissing noise. As she looked around in panic, wondering what it was for, the door sprang open and Amy jumped. She made a flash decision and sprinted for the open doorway, only to almost collide with someone. Amy blinked and groaned; out of one hand, into the other.

"Hey, cuz. What's up?" asked Jonah Wizard.

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"H-h-hi, J-Jonah," Stuttered Amy, internally cursing over each stumble. "T-thanks f-f-for o-opening the d-door. I-I'll j-j-just be g-going now." Amy gave the brightest smile that she could while trying to unobtrusively sidle off to the right.

"Let's go with… no." Jonah smiled back, but it wasn't a nice smile. Two people appeared behind him, blocking off all exits except the one to the back, straight into the Lucian base, and there was no way Amy was going back there.

Amy got straight to the point. "W-what do y-you want, J-Jonah?" she asked, though it was fairly obvious.

"Well, there's this thing that the Ekaterinas have figured out, yo, but Mom also wanted some leverage." Jonah grinned.

"L-l-leverage? W-what do y-you mean by th-that?" Amy stumbled. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around.

"Well, I should think it obvious," Cora Wizard said. "We want leverage against the Lucians, and getting leverage against the Madrigals is a side bonus, along with whatever the Ekats have come up with." Her smile turned icy.

"C-c-cr-…" Amy stuttered.

"Yes, we know, we know. Now let's get moving. The Lucians will be back any minute now, and we don't want that, do we?" She flashed a bright smile. God, the woman was almost as bad as Isabel. All nicey-nicey until she wanted something from you, and was ruthless. She could only hope that the Janus were as easy to escape from as the Lucians, and hope that Dan and Nellie found out that she wasn't in Isabel's hands anymore.

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Alistair Oh was not very happy. He was stuck working with two Tomas, though admittedly quite bright Tomas. He was also tramping through one of the top Lucian headquarters. Most of it was evacuated due to them invading, but Reagan had found one computer technician cowering behind a desk. She was currently being questioned by Hamilton and Nellie.

"Alistair," Said a usually silky voice, rough from hours of crying.

"Ian." Alistair replied. "I take it that neither your sister nor your mother know that you are here, or I would be unconscious with one of your sister's darts in my back."

"You guess correctly. I came to tell you two things. One is that she's not here." His voice broke as Alistair froze. "The Janus got her two days ago. They took her out of DC. She's not in their base here." Alistair swore in Korean. Ian almost cracked a smile. "That's what I thought, too. Cora is almost as bad as my mother, and their strongholds have very few loopholes."

Alistair sighed. "Do you know which–" he was broken off by Nellie and the others coming back from their interrogation.

"Well, she knew nothing. She was operating another–" Nellie broke off mid-sentence. "What is _that _traitor doing here?" she hissed.

Dan looked like he wanted to punch Ian. Reagan looked furious, but confused.

Hamilton just sighed. "She's gone, then?" he asked, dispirited.

Ian looked surprised, then nodded. Understanding crossed his face, then despair. "Janus."

Hamilton nodded and sighed. "Just one thing. Let's not fight. Let's ask her to decide, then give her time."

Ian nodded. "She hates fighting." His face twisted in fear and anger. "If Jonah…"

Hamilton nodded. He understood. Heck, he felt the same. "I know. But I think he knows about you, if not about me. I think she's safe, at least until the Janus say what they want."

Ian shrugged. "But if the Ekats…" he glanced at Alistair and went silent.

What was wrong with Ekats? Alistair wondered.

In response to everyone's puzzled looks, Ian explained, "The Ekats – well, Bae Oh, at least, know something about one of the clues, something about Amy. Do you know what it is, Alistair?"

Alistair shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't. But I will check in with my branch, though I'm afraid I can't tell you, Ian."

Ian nodded disappointedly. "My mother. We can't risk her finding out." He glanced at his watch. "We should probably go now. We have maybe five minutes before my mother initiates a lockdown. Go straight down the passageway, take a right and a left, and you're out. I'll take a different exit."

Alistair was thinking as he ran. A secret about Amy? She was just getting trapped deeper and deeper in this horrible, deadly clue hunt.

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Alistair was, once again, disappointed in his relatives. He sighed, and recited the poem again,

"_Instructions for life,_

_Encoded in destiny._

_The reason for strife,_

_Hopeful and Artful._

Don't any of you see what that means?"

Nellie gasped. "That does _not_ mean what I think that means."

Alistair nodded. "I'm afraid that it means exactly that."

"Someone care to fill us in?" Dan demanded. "Is the clue an alien? That has something to do with Amy."

Nellie shook her head. "Reagan," she demanded, seeing the girl's eyes widen in surprise. "What are instructions for life?

"Um, DNA." She replied. Reagan wasn't used to being called on. "But what does that have to do with – no. No. It can't be!"

"What?" Hamilton insisted. "Just say it!"

"Dan," said Reagan. "What are your parent's names?"

Dan shifted. "Hope and Arthur." He also caught on. "No!"

"What?" demanded Hamilton.

"Grace hid the last clue." Alistair explained. "Hopeful and Artful, Hope and Arthur, Amy's parents. Instructions for life. DNA."

Hamilton understood. "No! No, no. It can't be. The clue isn't in…"

Reagan finished the sentence for him, nodding sadly. "I'm afraid it is. The clue is hidden in Amy's DNA."

**Ooh, plot point! I've been waiting a while to spring this one. How will Cora react? Ooh, how will Isabel?? Review and find out!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Two days earlier:**_

"Of course, it would be too obvious to keep you in the city, so we'll be taking you to… oh, I shouldn't say. It should be a surprise. Not that you'll actually ever find out." Cora laughed. "Now…" She took out a bottle and sprayed a little bit of some sort of liquid in Amy's face…

…And the next thing that Amy knew, she was in a limo. Someone was duct-taping her mouth shut. In a half-trance, Amy attempted to reach up to rip the tape off – and fully woke up as she realized that her hands and feet were also taped together. Amy started thrashing around, trying to loosen her bonds.

"I know," said Cora. "Crude, but effective. It's actually almost impossible to escape from. The only way out of it is to cut it. This special brand can't be torn. No," She added, seeing Amy glance towards the place her knives were hidden. "We know about those. Oh, we're nearing the Janus airport. I guess we have to put you out now." She nodded at Jonah, who picked up a funny-smelling cloth and held it over Amy's nose. Despite her attempts to hold her breath, Amy felt herself losing consciousness. With her last effort, she kicked up her legs, hitting Jonah in the soft spot. Amy fell unconscious with a little smile on her face.

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When Amy woke up, her hands were untied and her gag was gone. She was lying in yet another cell, on a green bed. She looked around, examining her surroundings, and realized that this room had a bookshelf, filled with books. She stood up and promptly fell over; there was a small metal oval binding her feet together. She could hop, but she couldn't walk or move quickly. Still, she hopped/crawled to the bookcase. On the shelf were… translation books? She saw Latin, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Hieroglyphics, and a reference guide for Old English. Scanning the rest of the shelves, she saw titles of books in these languages, like… _Ohmigod! The Odyssey! In Greek! Ancient Greek!_ She had wanted to read it since around third grade, and had read almost every single English book about it, but to read it in Greek…

It was official. The Janus were way better than the Lucians. At least in some aspects… like… _books_…

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Ian was in a deep state of despair. The Janus just _had_ to invade their no-longer-secret base as Amy was escaping. To make it worse, Amy was in the hands of a woman who outwardly, if not inwardly, mimicked his mother and – much worse – a _boy_. Another boy, who could distract Amy, and then betray her, like… well, like Ian. It would have been fine if that boy had been Hamilton. He was all right, and he wouldn't betray Amy. _I think,_ Ian mentally added. When had he become this trusting? Ian shook his head. If they all got out of this Amy problem alive, he was going to quit the clue hunt or join a different team. Now that his mother was directing her anger at him and Amy, he finally knew what his victims felt like. When Amy had stated her anger at mistrust, he felt what she had felt when he had locked her in that accursed cave. He just hoped that the tortures that the Janus were putting her through weren't _too_ bad.

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"Well, she seems happy," Cora commented. "It seems hard to hate someone who loves books that much."

Jonah shrugged. He preferred his music. What was the deal with them, anyway? They were just a bunch of moldy old words.

Cora looked at her son unhappily. Cora _liked_ books. As she looked back to the screen, Amy was translating the _Odyssey_. Cora loved that book.

Amy blinked, and looked up. Straight at the camera. "I know that you're watching me, by the way." Cora raised an eyebrow. Were they that obvious? If you looked carefully, you could see the small camera, but it wasn't _too_ blatantly large. Amy went back to translating. "The Lucians hid their camera in the same space. Of course, theirs was a nanocamera, and therefore had a blind spot. I assume that you've got another camera over there-" she pointed to the opposite side of the room. "-To cover any blind spots. The only thing that I request is no camera in the bathroom." The cell had a small door at the back, which led to a small bathroom. "Heat sensors are fine, but I do have my private moments." After briefly glancing up, she continued talking. "This really is amazing. I've read most of the americanizations, and this contains at least five times as much detail as all of those. I especially like the way that you copied it. I've seen normal Ancient Greek, along with the Greek in this book, and I like the way that the flourishes almost make a picture. Here, I can see Odysseus sailing off to Troy, and when I flipped through the book, here, I can see the whirlpool, and on page six…"

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The title of the Email read, 'is she always this crazy over books?' and contained a video clip. Hamilton opened the Email and the video started to play. "This is really amazing. I've read…" Hamilton paused it before it could eat his brain, and checked how long it was. Two hours and fifteen minutes. Wow. That had to be some kind of a record. At the bottom of the message, there was a little note.

_Hamilton:_

_Yo. Since you're the only dude whose email I have, can U forward this 2 Ian? Tell him that if he misbehaves, we might have to… gasp… take away her books. :rolleyes: Actually, tell him to misbehave. Mom's going crazy, talking about how at least Amy appreciates the value of literature, and blah blah blah. But, to quote mom, "If I encounter any problems, there might have to be disastrous consequences." I wouldn't worry too much, yo. Mom likes Amy. But don't tell Ian that. Or Dan. Or anyone else, for that matter. Anyway, just… tell Ian, K?_

_Jonh da Wiz_

Hamilton tried to stifle his laughter. Jonah was so utterly clueless… about two things, Hamilton realized. One, that he liked Amy. Two, that he could trace emails sent over the Internet.

He sent out the tracker.

A minute or two later, it returned. After Hamilton forwarded the message to Nellie, Dan, and Ian, he checked the location. Venice Beach, Los Angeles. He rolled his eyes. Could the Janus be any more cliché?

**Well! I certainly expected this chapter to take longer. I know that Cora's personality has switched around a lot, but I was trying to show that the mean-ness is al really just a show. And I wanted to work the Odyssey in somehow or another. Either way, Review please! I take flames, as long as they're accompanied with a legitimate reason.**


	7. Chapter 7

**For the people who asked about Jonah sort of switching personalities from book 8, I want to point out three things: 1, that he is now under direct pressure from his mother, 2, he was friendly to Dan, not Amy, and 3, now he knows that Amy's a Madrigal, and therefore totally creepy.**

As footsteps echoed down the hallway, Amy tensed up. Isabel only visited when something big, usually bad, had happened. Cora seemed to mimic Isabel, and Amy was worried that something really, _really_ bad had happened.

When Cora reached the bars, to Amy's surprise, she pressed a small button on what looked like a remote control and the bars slid open.

Amy's voice was surprisingly strong when she spoke. "I-i-isabel always m-made sure th-that I was n-nicely ch-chained up before sh-she slid the b-bars up."

Cora snorted. "Isabel overdid things. There are at least two cameras other than the ones you mentioned earlier," she paused seeing Amy stiffen up, "And you can't get anywhere quickly with that on," she finished, gesturing to the hoop that bound Amy's feet.

"S-s-so why are you h-here?" Amy mumbled, bracing herself for bad news.

"Well, I have two questions. One, why are you stuttering?" Cora's face was genuinely curious.

Amy was taken aback. "Wh-wh-what?"

"Why are you stuttering? You weren't when you were talking about _The Odyssey_."

Amy's eyes widened. "Y-y-you could a-actually h-hear that?"

Cora nodded. Her suspicions were confirmed. Amy hadn't thought that anyone could actually hear her, so she was more confident. Now she was talking face-to-face with Cora, the branch leader who was reputed to be almost as terrifying as Isabel. To top it all off, Cora knew that she was a Madrigal. "Do you know what the Ekats are all worked up about?" Cora asked, abruptly switching subjects.

"N-no," Amy stammered. "O-only w-what I-i-isabel told me."

Cora noticed that Amy stuttered more when she mentioned Isabel's name. She didn't blame her. Despite mimicking her, even Cora was shaking in her boots when Isabel was in the same room as her. Especially if Isabel had matches. The only people who weren't terrified of her were the Dolt, sorry, Holts. "What did Isabel tell you?" Cora's voice was gentle.

"Sh-she told m-me th-that the E-ekats had f-f-figured someth-thing o-out about me." Amy paused. "S-sh-she didn't kn-know what i-it was, th-though."

Cora sighed. So the girl didn't know anything. Still using her gentle voice, she said, "One of our top spies stole this poem from them." She pushed a small scrap of paper towards Amy. "We can't understand what it means, but maybe you can."

As Amy read the poem, her face went pale. She looked like she might faint. "Wh-wh-who h-hid th-the l-l-last c-clue?"

Cora raised an eyebrow. Amy's stutter was worse than ever. She would have made a good Janus. "Grace."

"A-a-and th-the E-e-ekaterinas f-found s-something to co-co-connect it to m-me?"

"Yes. Do you know what it means?"

"N-n-n-no…" Amy lied. It was so obvious the Holts could have noticed it.

Cora rolled her eyes. "Amy…" she began. Her voice was soft, but had some steel in the core. Amy could sense that the atmosphere had changed, and stiffened. "I know you're lying. If you continue to do so, there might be consequences." All traces of soft and warmth left. "Disastrous consequences."

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"Hello, Daniel."

Dan jumped. There was only one person who called him that. And she was…

…not right in front of him. Instead, there was a girl with auburn hair and two twin boys who looked a lot like her. They were Amy's age. He blinked. "Whuh?"

The girl sighed. "Surely we haven't been out of the competition that long?"

A memory was coming back to Dan. "…Sinead?" He looked at the two boys, "Ted? Ned?"

"Actually," one of them said. "It would be Ned," indicating himself. "Ted." He finished, indicating his twin.

"Okay, I've got it straight now. Ned, Ted." he decided, purposefully pointing at the wrong one.

"To business." Sinead interrupted. "Where's Amy?"

Dan blinked again. "Um, you haven't heard? The Janus –"

"We know about the Janus, dolt. We also know about the clue." she smirked. "Alistair's files are _sooooo_ easy to hack into." The smirk vanished. "Amy. _Donde Esta?_"

"Uh, I, uh, don't –"

Sinead rolled her eyes. "We know you know. So just tell us. God, with brains that slow, you could almost be a Holt."

"Ahem."

Ted, Ned, and Sinead turned.

"I take offense to that." There stood Hamilton and Reagan, along with Alistair and Nellie. "What do you three want?"

"They want to know where Amy is." Dan spoke up quickly. "They didn't believe that we didn't know where she was. And I have to get going now," He addressed the Starlings.

"_Please begin boarding for flight 26D, to Los Angeles."_

"We really have to get going now, that's our…" Dan stopped in horror, remembering that he was right in front of the people who wanted to know where he was going.

Ted and Ned locked eyes. "LA. There's only…

"…one Janus stronghold there, and…"

"…it's one of the ones with…"

"…cell blocks. It's in…"

"Venice Beach," Sinead calmly interrupted the two. "Now, let's get going."

And with that, they turned and flounced off.

Dan looked at the others. "Oh, no! This is just the Holt's ice cream truck all over again!"

Hamilton nodded and groaned. "Paris. But, we need to get to our flight."

"Let's go."

_**On the plane:**_

Reagan sighed. Since they had bought their plane tickets late, there weren't any seats near each other available, and she had to sit away from everyone else. She was in the window seat, next to an English girl and her mother. The girl was quiet up until about five minutes after sitting down, when she started fidgeting. As they were taxiing down the runway, the girl turned to her mother and complained in an English accent, "It itches! Why couldn't we have gotten one custom-made?" The girl pouted, scratching at her sandy blonde hairline. Her voice seemed familiar.

Reagan glanced up at the place where the girl was scratching. A dark, silky lock had fallen out of the thing that Reagan now recognized as a wig. A dark, silky, _familiar_ lock. Reagan glanced at the girl's feet. Prada shoes.

Reagan swore.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just a note, all of the misspellings in the chats are on purpose. Those airplane text thingies are hard to type on!**

Reagan glanced up at the seat back. At least these seats had seat-to-seat chat.

Reganh: guys hlp!!!

Music4evah: what is it?

DaHammer: ya sis, whats up?

Reaganh: Mama and Nat kbra nxt 2 me!

iamDC: !!!!!!

Tacoman: uh-oh.

_Isabel has joined this conversation._

_Lprincess1 has joined this conversation._

Reaganh: (Censored)!!!!!!

Lprincess1: You guys are so easy 2 track

Natalie fakely smiled at Reagan. "Seriously. You guys suck at telling that you're tailed."

Lprincess1: besides taco dude is rlly easy 2 hack

Tacoman: why dos evrybudy want 2 hack my files?

Lprincess1: Bcuz we can.

Reagan returned Natalie's smile. "So, how much, _exactly_, did you find in Uncle Alistair's files?"

Natalie's fake smile disappeared. "We know about the poem."

Reaganh: they kno about the poem

iamDC: uh-oh were screwd.

Isabel: yes. You are.

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Sinead grinned. Non-ekats were _so_ easy to intimidate. They now knew the exact location of Amy Cahill, the lead to the next clue.

"Hey, Sinead!" Ted called. "Guess who's on the plane? I'm hacking the chat now, by the way."

"Who?" replied Ned. "well, who else?"

"Well, sitting in seat 24F is Reagan. Sitting in seats 24 D and E are Mrs. Izzy Snek and her daughter, Natasha."

"I cannot believe that the Kabras came up with names that corny."

"And guess what? _They_ hacked Alistair's files, too."

"So they know about the poem?" Sinead groaned. Then she started grinning. "Perfect way to make a splash about rejoining the competition. Let's book the next flight to LA."

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Madison Holt rolled her eyes. The Starlings hadn't even noticed that they were being tailed, and had just blurted out their location… as well as her sister's predicament. In a public place. In the middle of an airport. She thought that Ekats were supposed to be smart!

"Guys, I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't break anything vital." Sinead stood up and headed to a nearby restroom.

Perfect. When the boys had their backs turned, Madison tried to be quiet as she crept up to their laptop. She carefully opened a plastic baggie, and dropped one of Hamilton's tiny hacker-bots onto the computer. It scurried inside the keyboard and started up its spyware systems. Madison smiled. Her brother really was a genius. And she had pulled off the operation perfectly. Nobody knew she was there.

"Hey, Madison." Ned said, keeping his back turned to her.

Oops. Maybe not so perfect, then.

"Hi, Ned. Hi, Ted."

They turned around, and suddenly she was facing a greek god. Two greek gods. "So, what was that you were dropping in our computer?" Ted asked cheerfully.

"N-nothing." Oh, god, why was she pulling an Amy now, of all times? Why in front of the two hottest guys in the world? She wondered, before clamping down hard on that thought. Tomas did not fall in love with Ekaterinas. Especially _rival_ Ekats.

"Oh, come on, tell the truth, already. We caught you with a spycam. Just can't tell what you dropped. Is it commercial, or custom built?"

"Custom, not that it should matter to you."

"What wavelength does it operate on, CDMFA, ACNTD, or ZFFD?"

"I didn't build it. I have no clue what the heck you're talking about."

"Let's see. Since it's custom…"

"…it's not commercial. As far as we know…"

"…the Holts don't have access to…"

"…a custom builder, and there's only…"

"…one Hold who knows anything…"

"…about computers, that is. Which means…"

"Hamilton," they said in unison.

"And Hammer–" They were interrupted by Reagan.

"Hammer?" She narrowed her eyes. "Have you guys chatted with him?"

They had a guilty look in their faces. "Uh, once or twice…"

"…a month…"

"… actually, more like a week…"

"…nah, it was more or like…"

"Once or twice a day." They finished in unison.

"Don't worry, it was just friendly chat. No clues were revealed." Ned answered Madison's as-yet-unspoken explosion.

"Either way, Hammer uses…"

"…DFG rays…"

"…yeah, we invented those together…"

"Good times." Again, they spoke in unison.

"Are you guys trying to annoy me?" Madison asked, half amused, half annoyed.

"No, they do it to everyone." said Sinead's voice from behind.

Madison jumped about a foot in the air. Why could everyone be sneaky except Holts?

Sinead rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm just here to talk. Honestly. Why does everyone think that we're going to suddenly turn around and stab them in the back? We're not Kabras."

"Well, maybe if you didn't sneak up on people…"

"…they'd run away before we got a chance to talk to them."

"Point taken. Talk."

"We want to get to LA."

Madison's eyebrows went up in surprise. "And what does that have to do with us?"

"Well," Sinead explained. "We don't have any money or resources. The Ekats have bailed on us. You guys have enough gear to fly first-class across the country at least five times."

"And you want a temporary alliance." Madison rolled her eyes. "Do you think that we're so doltish, and yes, that is a word, that we don't know that, hmm, _every single alliance_ has ended in people either A. dying or B. almost dying?"

"I know, but we just want to get Amy out of the hands of the Janus. We don't trust them, and the Lucians are twice as bad. If Isabel and Natalie get there first… we don't want to think about what the world would be like with them in charge."

Madison nodded. "I understand. I still have to check it with my folks, though. Meet us outside of the starbucks on the crosswalk of 66th and Presidential at Five." She stuck out her hand. "Deal?"

Sinead stuck out her own hand and shook. "Deal."

As Sinead watched Madison leave, she shook her head in wonder. It seemed like Reagan and Hamilton had gotten the only brains of the lot. Madison hadn't even noticed that they noticed her tailing them, even when Ted had tried to make eye contact. She hadn't even noticed the tracker that Sinead had stuck in her palm, and she had completely forgotten about the hacker-bot.

Sinead smirked. Holts were so easy to manipulate.


	9. Chapter 9

As Cora walked down the hall to go talk to Amy, she wondered how the girl would react to Cora's method of pressuring for information. She would be using a combination of a lie detector and a sort of a mini-taser, something that couldn't actually cause any bodily harm, but could give a nasty shock.

"H-hi, C-cora," Amy said once Cora got near. "C-can you t-tell me w-what αστραπή m-means?"

_Perfect word._ "Well, the best translation is… Lightning. Now. Amy, do you know what I came about?"

"N-n-no…" Amy looked like she was starting to get worried.

"Do you know what this is, Amy? It's a lie detector. I think that you know what I'm here about now."

"Y-y-you're h-here a-about the p-p-poem." Cora noticed that she tripped over the word poem, just like she tripped over Isabel's name. "I-I'm n-not g-going to t-tell y-you wh-what i-i-it means."

Cora sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."

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The Starlings and the Holts had a whole row all to themselves on the airplane. The Starlings sat on the right side and the Holts sat on the left. The Starlings had occupied themselves with their computers, and they had somehow managed to hook up to the Internet. Eisenhower and Mary-Todd slept, and Madison read a book about martial arts.

Ned smiled to himself. He knew that Madison looked at him like he was a Greek god. Ted didn't really care about her, but Ned really liked the way she walked… and the way her hair moved… and… and… _her_, all of her. Though her intelligence could be off at times, from Hamilton's updates, he knew that she could be reliable in a pinch, and though not as smart as her twin, she had fairly good logic skills. For example, her father would walk through traffic, but she knew that the little red hand meant 'stop.' And her fighting skills… she sounded as strong and sturdy as a bull when she had to be, and she was just… _perfect_.

As he came out of his reverie, he noticed that Sinead and Ted were looking at him funnily.

"We've been waving our hands in your face for the past fifteen minutes," Ted explained. "I went up five levels!"

Ned groaned. Now Ted was going to win! "I bet that I can still beat you!"

"You're on!"

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As Dan was walking back to the restrooms, he passed Reagan's seat. The poor girl was sitting right next to Natalie, who was blabbering on and on about clothes, and shoes, and what was in or out this season compared to last season. Reagan was tightly plugging her ears. As Dan passed, she glanced up at him, and blinked rapidly. Having been ready for this, he gathered her message. _I'll delay._ He nodded, and blinked back, _Pete's, Disney Ave._ Since Reagan was in the back, sitting next to the Kabras, she would delay them so that Dan and the others could get away undetected, then slip away when their attention was elsewhere. She would meet them at the store that Dan had blinked to her, and from there they would get a hotel for the night, and try to rescue Amy in the morning. With luck, Nellie would be able to open the Janus base, they could grab Amy, and get out.

Of course, when was luck on their side?

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"Let's see…" Nellie mumbled. "Opencode: Jane 1 88." She paused for a moment. Nothing happened. "Um, okay, Opencode: 102.1." Again, nothing. "Ugh! Guys, do you have any ideas?"

Alistair shook his head. "No."

"Does Cora have a sense of humor?" Hamilton asked.

Nellie looked at him dubiously. "Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

He shrugged. "Reagan asked."

Reagan herself was grinning. "I have an idea."

"Well, then, try it!" Dan practically shouted. "Amy's been down there for six whole days! They could be, I don't know, ripping her apart molecule by molecule, or something!"

"No, that's the Kabras." Reagan said thoughtfully. "As for the key. Can it be a poem?" Nellie nodded. "Perfect.

_Haikus are easy,_

_But sometimes, they don't make sense._

_Refrigerator._"

They waited.

Nothing happened.

"Nothing happened." Dan stated the obvious.

"Well, of course not, dweeb. None of you are Janus." Said a voice from behind.

Dan jumped. There was only one person in the whole competition who called him 'dweeb.' She wasn't there. It was Sinead again.

"So how are we going to get it open?" asked a voice from behind the Starlings.

Reagan looked shocked. "Madison!"

"Reagan!" The other girl stepped out from behind Ned and rushed at her sister. They grabbed each other tight in a tackle-hug. "I haven't seen you in _weeks!_ Where have you been?"

"Making sure that Hammer here doesn't trip over his own feet, making sure that _Dan_ doesn't trip over his own feet, distracting Kabras. The usual."

"_Kabras?_ Those are dangerous, Rea **(pronounced RAY.)**. You were careful?"

"As careful as I could be. Don't worry. I'm fine, and the Kabras are on their way to Venice."

"How'd you make them–"

"Girls," Alistair interrupted. "Now is not the best time to catch up. Maybe later, _after_ the time-sensitive mission is over?" He nodded to Sinead. "I'm assuming that you are about to prove how 'high and mighty' you three are and get us in?"

"Wait," Nellie interrupted. "They're coming? I don't trust them."

"We just want to get Amy away from the Janus before they figure out the clue. After that, we won't make a move until you're at the next city." Sinead's expression said that she had nothing to hide.

"Guys, I trust them." Madison's expression was mostly for Ned. It was obvious that she had a crush on him.

"Hmph. Fine. Open it up." Nellie glared at them.

Ted typed a few letters into his laptop and pressed enter. There was a rumbling, and a small trapdoor popped up. Nellie made the Starlings go first, and after them, Alistair, then the Holts, and lastly her and Dan. She couldn't lose of the feeling that they were walking into someone's trap.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

A few hours and electrical shocks later, Cora sighed, and decided that Amy wouldn't tell her anything today. She pressed the button to open up the lie detector, and frowned. Nothing was happening. The latch was stuck.

"W-wh-what is i-it?" Amy stuttered.

"The latch is stuck." Cora frowned; she would have to disintegrate the metal. She fished around in her pocket for her small tube of metal dissolver. She grabbed it up and squeezed the tiniest bit possible onto the latch. Three seconds too late, she realized her mistake. Amy's other hand swung up and around, hitting Cora on the back of her head to knock her out.

As Cora slumped over on the desk, Amy pried her arm out of the lie detector and the metal disintegrator out of Cora's hands. She squeezed a bit onto the ring around her feet, disintegrating the metal and freeing her feet. She made a hole in the bars big enough for her to go through, grabbing _The Odyssey_ and a translation book as a second thought. She hadn't finished it yet. As she walked down the deserted hallway, she heard an announcement:

"_ALL JANUS EVACUATE. INTRUSION OF UNIDENTIFIED CAHILLS. REPEAT, EVACUATE."_

The hallways started filling up with steam, so that nothing was very visible. As Amy entered a room, she saw the outline of a boy in the other doorway. Assuming that it was Jonah coming to get his mom, She ran at him, kicking towards his head. The next minute, to her surprise, she found herself flying through the air, with one word on her mind.

"Dan?"

Then she realized that she was going to crash into the floor in two seconds flat and panicked.

**Ooh! Another cliffie! Though, actually, should you be surprised any more? I do cliffies like, almost every chapter.**

**Either way, review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Last chapter:**_

_The hallways started filling up with steam, so that nothing was very visible. As Amy entered a room, she saw the outline of a boy in the other doorway. Assuming that it was Jonah coming to get his mom, She ran at him, kicking towards his head. The next minute, to her surprise, she found herself flying through the air, with one word on her mind._

"_Dan?"_

_Then she realized that she was going to crash into the floor in two seconds flat and panicked._

Out of nowhere, a hand reached up and grabbed her out of the air.

"Hey, kiddo, are you all right?"

Amy nodded before grabbing Nellie in a bear hug. She felt so… so…. so _small_. Like she was four and had gotten lost in the shopping mall. She had been so relived when she saw her mother that she had cried, and cried, and cried. She had been so alone these past three weeks. "I missed you so much."

After a few minutes of Nellie just holding her, she turned around and surveyed their party.

Reagan and Madison were guarding the doors. Hamilton was looking at the floor awkwardly, like he had something that he wanted to ask. The Starlings were looking at random parts of the room, Ned, by some miraculous incident, happened to be staring at Madison. Dan was rolling his eyes.

"Can we concentrate on getting out of here?" he asked.

"Actually, I'd, um, like to talk to Amy." Hamilton said quietly. The others stared at him, expecting him to talk. "Alone," he explained.

"Oh! Um, sure."

"Right."

"Okay."

The room was suddenly empty.

"What do you want to talk to me about, Hamilton?" she asked softly. She walked up to him. "It's okay. You can talk to me."

He looked at her, and decision and resignation settled across his face, along with determination. He sighed. "Amy, there's something I have to tell you…"

She nodded slowly. "Okay. You can tell me."

He suddenly reached out and kissed her. She was filled with a feeling like, like warmth and happiness and sunlight. It was like the world was in darkness, and it suddenly lit up. It was nice.

But just nice. It didn't make her heart race, or her stomach do flip-flops. It didn't make her fill up with excitement.

They broke apart, looking around awkwardly. "Just… think about it, okay?" mumbled Hamilton.

Amy nodded, and they left the room.

"Okay, people. Let's get out of here." Nellie took command. "Ned, Ted, Sinead, download a map of this base?"  
"We're on it."

"Madison, Reagan, Hamilton? You three guard the exits."

"Deal."

"Amy, where's Cora?"

"I, uh, um, kn-knocked her out."

Nellie raised an eyebrow. "Then she won't be out for long. Do you guys have the map?"

"Yeah," said Sinead. "Down the hallway, turn right at the second intersection, take the elevator up, and turn right…"

"Tell us the rest when we get there," Nellie instructed. "Now, let's go."

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

The odd group raced down the halls, taking turns and stairs where Sinead told them. Amy stayed near the front, talking with Nellie about what had happened since she had been captured on the plane. They paused to catch their breath as they stood in the elevator.

"How did they get us on the plane, anyway?" Dan interrupted.

"Well, Isabel was the flight attendant, and she slipped us a sleeping drug in our food. Then, after we fell asleep, somehow or another, she grabbed me…" She was cut off with a gasp as the elevator doors opened.

"…Just like we're about to do now," Isabel finished. Natalie stood next to her, dart gun ready and loaded.

"Amy, get behind me." Dan whispered.

"But…"

"Amy, just do it!"

"F-fine." Amy retreated behind Dan, who stood in front of everyone else.

"Aww, are you going to sic your wittle baby bwother on us?" Isabel taunted.

"Actually, yes." Dan's fist shot towards Isabel's head at the same time as his foot; Isabel dropped to the floor and lashed out at Dan's legs. Natalie attempted to shoot a dart at Dan, but he ducked. The dart sped towards the person who was right behind him: Amy. She had no time to duck, no time to–

Hamilton's hand was right in front of her face, holding the dart. She blinked. "Wow. Th-that was… wow."

He flicked the dart towards Isabel, who fell unconscious the moment the sedative entered her bloodstream. Everyone turned to Natalie, who backed up and ran. They tied Isabel up with some rope that they fished out of Ned's backpack and stuffed her in the elevator. They continued on, this time Amy staying in the back with the Holt girls.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

"Hey, Reagan, Madison, we need you over here!" Hamilton called. They were trying to bust down a door that refused to open. Amy watched from a distance as the girls and Hamilton rushed at the door multiple times, trying to bash it down. As she surveyed the group, she realized that someone was missing, but she couldn't tell who. Dan, Nellie, the three Holts, Alistair… she realized who it was just as someone slipped a rope around her hands and covered up her mouth. _The Starlings_. As one of the boys tied up her hands, Sinead was trying to cover up any noise that she made. She struggled, but whichever triplet was tying up her hands was stronger than her.

As Amy inhaled to shout to Nellie, Sinead murmured, "I wouldn't do that." Amy felt something cold and sharp at her throat, and realized that Sinead had a knife. As soon as her hands were securely (too secure, in Amy's opinion) tied, Sinead cleared her throat. Six pairs of eyes looked toward them and gasped. "I think that we should take our leave, now." she announced. "I wouldn't try to follow us, if I were you." As Amy's terrified gaze swept over the rest of the party, she noticed that Madison looked especially surprised and crestfallen. "Oh, and, Madison?" Sinead smirked. "That thing about not betraying you?" her smirk grew even wider. "I lied." And with that, Amy's three captors stepped into the shadows and disappeared, dragging Amy with them.

**The sweet taste of freedom… sweet but short. Anyway, the first chapter in a series of fast-paced events. Some big things are going to happen in the next few chapters, so hold onto your hats, and review! Constructive criticism welcome.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Move," commanded Sinead. They had slipped down a secret passageway that Sinead had discovered on the map, deciding it was the perfect time to spring the trap.

Amy tried to glare at her. "Wh-wh-wh-"

"Why should you?" Sinead interrupted. Well, for one, you don't have anything better to do. Two, the door closed, and it won't open again until I tell it to. Three, I have a knife, and there are lots of painful things that I can do with it that won't kill you."

Amy decided to move. "Wh-wh-what do y-you w-want?"

Sinead rolled her eyes. "Duh! You have a code in your DNA. Grace hid it there when you were an embryo. It'll lead to the last clue. Speaking of that, does Cora know? About the poem? We know that she has it, but does she understand it?"

Amy shook her head, mute.

"Good. Do you understand what's going on right now? It may be difficult for non-Ekaterinas to understand."

Amy smiled a small, quick smile that soon vanished. "The clandestine verse within Ekaterina jurisdiction was found by a kleptomaniac of the Janus, who relinquished it to Cora. Cora allowed me to scrutinize the page, though she was not able to fathom the true meaning of it. She subjected me to fairly painful light electrocution when I withheld the information that it contained in the interests of continuing my hopefully long lifespan. I therefore made my escape while her attention was being circumvented."

Ted blinked.

Ned blinked.

"What?" they said simultaneously.

"Cora knows about the poem, but she doesn't know what it actually means. A Janus stole it. She showed it to Amy, and when Amy wouldn't tell her what it meant, she gave Amy some light electric torture before she was able to escape." Sinead explained. "Are you sure you're not an Ekat?" She asked Amy.

Amy blinked and blushed. "Y-y-you–"

"Understood that?" Sinead nodded. "Yes."

"You didn't stutter when you were delivering your speech, but you are now. Why?" Ned asked.

"Are you completely insensitive?" Ted asked. "She obviously planned the speech out for the first hostiles to ask her the question. She also thought that nobody would understand her. She was therefore more confident."

Amy nodded, stuttering under her breath about too-smart kidnapping Ekats.

"Move." Sinead commanded again, and they resumed their tedious pace.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

The minute that the Starlings and their captive were gone, Madison burst into tears. "It…It's all my fault!" she blubbered. "If I hadn't…" _sniff._ "trusted them, then they wouldn't have even…" _sob._ "come here!"

"My darling niece," Alistair walked up to Madison and put a hand on her shoulder. "If I had seen you were falling for the boy, I would have done something. It passed over my head, and it should not have." He paused, absorbed what he had just said, and groaned.

"What is it?" Nellie asked. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Those…" said Dan. "Were the exact same freaking words that he said to Amy in Korea." His voice was as cold as ice and as hard as steel. "History just repeats itself, doesn't it?" Dan walked up to the door. "And there's nothing we can freaking do to stop it happening." Suddenly, with a ferocity that surprised even himself, he punched the door. There was a small indent where his fist had been. He punched it again, and again. The hard metal slowly buckled, leaving an empty doorway.

Reagan and the others stared in shock. "That reasoning…" Reagan slowly said. "Was totally Lucian, but the reaction was totally Tomas. You want to be a ninja, and excel at Wushu. Janus. Dan, what's your IQ?"

Dan looked surprised. "Umm… 135. Amy's is 157. Aunt Beatrice wouldn't tell us what those numbers meant. But what does that have to do with anything? She's still gone." Everyone knew that Dan didn't mean Aunt Beatrice.

"Nellie, what branch was Arthur Trent?" asked Alistair.

All of a sudden, footsteps echoed down the hallway.

"Tell you later," Nellie said quickly. "Now, let's get moving!"

Hamilton slowly shook his head. Through the entire discussion, he had been sitting against a wall, his head against his hands. Now everybody's attention was at him. "Why?" he hoarsely asked. "She's gone again. And we couldn't rescue her."

Nellie had had enough. Her charge had gone missing, _again_, and now Hamilton was just sitting there. Nellie hauled him to his feet and slapped him. He looked at her in surprise, coming out of his depression. "Now. Are we going to sit here and mope, or are we going to do something about it?" she demanded. "We can't rescue her if we get caught by the Janus."

Hamilton shook his head to clear it. "All right. Let's move."

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Amy glanced around her newest cell, and sighed. Her hands were still tied behind her back, but she had managed to work them around to her front. Big difference that made. She was on a rope attached to the back wall. She couldn't even reach the door, and even if she had one of her knives, she couldn't cut the rope. It had a steel core, but it was miraculously flexible. They hadn't even let her keep the copy of _The Odyssey_. Two hours after Amy had woken up in the room, Sinead had come in to inform her that they had taken a small sample of her DNA. Two hours after that, she had run out of possible escape plans, pi digits, and torture methods for Isabel. She was bored out of her mind. Suddenly, a strange sound outside of the cell made her look up. She heard it again. It sounded like… laughter?

Out of nowhere, a door opened, and the triplets walked in. They looked like they were barely containing their laughs.

"What?" Amy asked tiredly. "Can you share the joke, or is it a secret?"

"It's no secret." Ted chuckled. "It's just… someone's made books about us!"

Amy got that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "What? How? Can I see one?"

"Sure," said Sinead. "here's the third one." She chucked Amy a random one from a pile of books outside of the room. "It's electronicized, so you can turn the pages by saying, 'next' or 'back.'"

Amy glanced at the cover and paled. The title was _The Sword Thief_. She looked up, but the Starlings had left. She shook her head and started reading.

**So… In case you can't tell, I'm having a horrible time coming up with filler. I'm also bored out of my mind, since I've read nearly every other 39 clues fanfiction and books, and I **_**still**_** don't have any ideas. Next chapter will be better, I promise. Fast-paced stuff still to come, should start next chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12

_Four-year-old Amy is sitting in Grace's library. As Amy relaxes in the presence of the many thousands of books, Grace walks in. She's carrying another book, but it seems to be written in some sort of code. The front reads, AAG ATT AAT ACA TTT AAC ATT ATT AGT GGG. Amy has never seen this book before, and wonders what the nonsense letters on the cover mean. "Grace?" she chirps. "Why are there only four different letters on that book?"_

_Grace looks over and smiles. "Do you want me to teach you that code?" Amy nods profusely. She wants a code that nobody but her, and Grace, of course, can solve. "I'll tell you the first five letters. A is AAA. B is AAC. C is AAG. D is-"_

_Amy interrupts her. "AAT. Is E ACA?"_

_Grace smiles at her young granddaughter. "Yes. Do you know why there are only four letters?"_

_Amy sits quiet for a moment, thinking. "They're the four letters in the gen-genetic sequence!" she finally bursts out._

_Grace nods. "Do you want to try and memorize this code?"_

_Amy nods enthusiastically. "Wait till I show Mommy and Daddy!"_

Amy woke up. During the clue hunt, she had taught Dan and Nellie the code, too. She finally realized what the code was for. She was a little angry with Grace for messing with her genetic code, but she understood why. Grace had never taught the code to anybody else. The clue was fairly secure. Unless, of course, the Starlings came up with some sort of device or drug to make her tell the truth. If she could just dissolve the metal, or something…

Her eyes widened. Dissolve the metal! Amy had put the Janus metal dissolver in her sock after she escaped, so that she wouldn't use it. If she could use her fingernails to saw away at the rope part, then dissolve the metal, she might be able to free her hands, then dissolve the area around the door! For the next two hours, she wore down her fingernails and speculated about what the message might contain. 'The Last Clue is Froot Loops,' or 'The Lead is Purple Spaghetti-O's.'

Finally, Amy had worn away the rope part. She fished around in her shoe and grabbed the bottle of dissolver, squeezing a small amount onto the steel. The steel seemed to melt away. She unwound the rope that was still around her hands and shook them to renew circulation. Since she didn't know whether they were spying on her or not, Amy opened a hole in the door as quickly as possible. When she kicked the hole out, she briefly saw the faces of two surprised Starlings before the circular chunk of metal slammed into them, knocking them over.

"O-o-oops." It was Ned and Ted. That meant that she still had to figure out a way past Sinead. A red light blinked on. WARNING. INTRUDER ALERT: LUCIAN.

And the Kabras. ****.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Before Amy left the DNA testing room, she looked up at the screens on the walls. At a glance, she could tell that none of them had any hidden message, except one. She didn't have time to translate it, but she memorized it before destroying the samples. CCCATGAGCCACCCCACATTTAACCAGAGTACCCATCCAGGG. **(full list of translations posted at the bottom.)** Once Amy had destroyed all of the samples, she turned around to find Sinead standing in the exit, cleaning one of her fingernails with a knife, like she had all the time in the world.

"Amy."

Sometimes, Amy hated mental images. This was one of those times. Sinead had a knife. Sinead didn't really care whether Amy got hurt or not. Amy was Sinead's escaping prisoner. Amy was terrified. Under that terror, though, she thought that she felt another emotion, one that she just couldn't pinpoint. "S-s-s-sinead. I-I th-th-think that w-we should g-get out of h-here. Th-the L-l-l-lucians are a-a-attacking."

Sinead shrugged. "Our traps should get them. If Grace's don't."

Amy felt a chill go up her spine. "Grace's?" She didn't stutter when saying Grace's name. Grace had actually helped the Cahill kids.

Sinead grinned. It wasn't a nice grin. "Yes. This used to be Grace's laboratory. She did DNA modification and reading here." Sinead tossed the knife up in the air and caught it. "It's obvious that you know the code. Would you be kind enough to give us the key?"

Despite her terror, Amy raised an eyebrow incredulously. Was she _serious?_

"I thought not. Now, I'd recommend that you turn around and head in the other direction. Knives can be very sharp. We wouldn't want to get you–" suddenly, Sinead froze, staring blankly ahead before dropping to the ground. Behind her stood the _Fashionable, Beautifully Awesome girl with a Dart gun_ **No, Natalie. Do not hack my story.** Behind her stood the Menace with a Dart Gun herself, Natalie Kabra.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

"Wha'? Wha' is it?" Asked a very sleepy Nellie as Dan and Reagan tried to wake her up.

"Nellie, it's Ian. He has important news! About Amy!" Dan shouted in Nellie's ear.

Nellie sat bolt upright. "Okay, little dudes. I'm awake." She got up and ran to the door of the LA hotel room.

Ian was there. He looked like he always did, but there was an aura of… tiredness around him. "I know where she is."

Those five words set of a thunderstorm of 'where's' and 'how's.'

Nellie held up her hand to silence the flurry of questions. "Where?" she demanded.

"Grace's laboratory. But it's too late. Mother found out first. Natalie's probably already there by now." he grimaced. The room was silent. "She's going to Paris. One of the workers let that slip."

"Well," said a subdued Madison. "At least we know where we're going. That's an advantage, at least."

Ian shook his head. "Paris is almost impossible to break into, and it is impossible to even get into the country undetected. The only people known to have done it are a group of Madrigals, and even if we had some way of contacting them, they probably wouldn't want to help Amy."

Everyone stared at Ian blankly.

"What?" he finally asked.

**Well! Ian seems clueless. Ha-ha, clueless. I'm so amazing. (sarcasm, sarcasm.) Here's the full list of the code key:**

**A=AAA**

**B=AAC**

**C=AAG**

**D=AAT**

**E=ACA**

**F=ACC**

**G=ACG**

**H=AGA**

**I=AGC**

**J=AGG**

**K=AGT**

**L=ATA**

**M=ATC**

**N=ATG**

**O=ATT**

**P=CAA**

**Q=CAC**

**R=CAG**

**S=CAT**

**T=CCA**

**U=CCC**

**V=CCG**

**W=CCT**

**X=CGA**

**Y=CGC**

**Z=CGG**

**_=TTT**

**.=GGG  
Review!**


	13. Chapter 13

"N-natalie."

"Amy. You know this will be easier if you come quietly?"

"A-as i-if."

"I thought so."

Amy thought that Natalie would have been glaring at her. Instead, she was grinning as if she had just won the race. It was freaking Amy out. Then again… the Kabras were like cats. They always liked to play with their food before they ate it. Amy felt a twinge of… what was that emotion? Annoyance? Still. She wasn't going to give up a chance to escape, finally. Amy edged backwards until she bumped up against a broken screen. Natalie advanced, thinking that she had the upper hand. Perfect. Amy covertly reached for a piece or two of jagged glass. She had pulled this trick with Natalie before, but this time, if she threw two…

Just like last time, she kept Natalie talking. "S-so. Y-you f-found Grace's l-l-laboratory."

Natalie shrugged. "It wasn't easy, but we did it. After you tied Mother up and left, I ran back and got her out. She had woken up by then, and we found your team just in time to see the Starlings sneak up on you. Since they're easier to infiltrate then the Tomas, Ekaterina, or Madrigal, we decided to wait. After that, they– hey! You got me monolauging!"

Amy threw the glass and ran, just like last time. This time, however, she managed to get out of the building. Suddenly, she was in the woods behind Grace's burnt-out mansion, which she started running towards. She raced towards the road, sprinting for all she was worth. She didn't know how much backup Natalie had. If Natalie had come alone, that would me much more–

Something knocked into her, wrapping around her and dragging her to the ground. A bola. Lucian bolas were made of steel, and she had used up the last of the metal dissolver on the cell.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Isabel's voice was as sharp as a razor.

Amy rolled her eyes, despite her face being pressed against the dirt. "Th-that i-is p-p-possibly o-one o-of th-the m-most o-o-overused s-sentence i-in th-the h-history o-of e-e-evil v-villains."

Then, a voice spoke that made her insides freeze. "Hello, love."

"I-i-i-ian?"

"Yes." his silky voice purred. "Goodnight, love."

And Amy descended into unconsciousness.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

"So, you're saying that Nellie is a Madrigal agent."

"Yes."

"And Dan and Amy are Madrigals, too."

"Yes."

"So why didn't anyone tell me?"

They were sitting in the LA hotel room, and had been for the past hour or so, having explained the branch situation to Ian.

Nellie shrugged. "No clue. Didn't your mother rant about how I was a Madrigal top agent when she found out about the date?"

Ian avoided Hamilton's gaze when the date was mentioned, just as Hamilton had avoided Ian's when he said that he had kissed Amy. "She ranted about how you were 'their' top agent. In that kind of mood, I didn't want to interrupt her to ask who 'they' were."

Dan nodded. "I totally understand, dude. I wouldn't want to interrupt her, either."

"Back to the main topic," Reagan interrupted.

"Where's the nearest Madrigal stronghold?" Madison asked. "We might want to get there before Amy gets into too much trouble."

"Canada?" Dan guessed.

Nellie looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, little dude. How'd you know?"

He shrugged. "Grace had this big map in her study, before her place burned down. It had lots of little pins around the world, in different cities. Red, yellow, green, blue, and gray. The nearest gray one from where we are now is near Whistler."

Nellie nodded. "Nice. So, yeah. To Canada we go."

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Amy woke up in her first cell. The bars were gone, and Isabel was standing there.

"Hello, Amy. How are you?"

Amy rolled her eyes. They were about the only things not quaking with fright.

"Sorry, stupid question. The real question is, what are we going to do with you now?" Isabel's mouth curled upwards in a smile. "Grace probably taught you how to decode the DNA. We need to decode the DNA. Understand?"

"I-i-i-i–"

It was Isabel's turn to roll her eyes. "Honestly, do you _have_ to stutter?"

Amy felt a twinge of annoyance. That was unusual. Isabel usually scared her so much she didn't have room for any more emotions. In response to Isabel's query, she nodded. She didn't want to stutter too much.

"Well, if you must." Isabel stood up and started pacing. "I always thought that the daughter of two such talented people would be talented herself, though it appears that you're just as dumb as the Holts."

Amy narrowed her eyes. Isabel was trying to provoke her, and make her give the code.

"Of course, we have no use for someone so untalented, so we may just have to… dispose of you." Isabel continued. "Of course, we might have to kill your idiot brother, too."

It was the comment about Dan that did it. Something inside of Amy, the thing that was holding all of that anger and frustration back, just _snapped_. It was so palpable, you could almost hear it. Amy's terror suddenly and unexpectedly dissipated. The anger and frustration and most of all annoyance expanded up to fill her. She was in the calm, hard state of mind that she only got in when she was really angry, but this time, something was different. It was different because this time, she was facing one of the most feared women in all of recorded history. _And she wasn't afraid_. Amy had been in collapsing tombs, two fires, trapped on an island filled with crocodiles, about to be thrown to sharks, and she had survived. Next to these things, Isabel was just a human.

Isabel must have felt that something was different, because she suddenly stopped pacing and tensed. Something in the air was different. This used to be a one-sided confrontation, but now it had evolved into a full-out battle.

Amy stood up, and walked right up to Isabel, calmly meeting her gaze like almost no other human being could. "I'm sick of you," she stated in a flat tone. "I'm sick of people caging me, tying me up like an _animal_, manipulating me and pressing me for information, using me, and intimidating me. I'm done."

Isabel involuntarily took a step back. Under her mask, Amy could clearly see the shock and – was that – fear?

"I am not going to tell you the code. I will not reveal any of our clues that you might not have. _I am not an object for you to use to reach your goals, Isabel_." Now Amy's voice was like steel. "You don't scare me."

Amy slapped Isabel with all of her might. Isabel held her cheek, not bothering to disguise her shock. "You dare…"

"Yes, I dare. Was it not clear that your 'fear tactics' don't work?" Amy again met Isabel's gaze without flinching. "And stop using me to get to Ian."

"As if," Isabel coldly replied, before making a hand signal off to the side, and Amy once again lost consciousness.

**Wow, Amy's confident. **

**For those of you who reviewed asking if you translated it wrong, the answer is NO. the code does read unique_brkfst. If this is a message to Amy, think about what her mom makes in breakfast that other moms don't. **

**Review, review, review! Though don't review because of this. Review if you were already going to. The amount of reviews that I already have is AWESOME. I never expected this many.**


	14. Chapter 14

When Amy woke up, she was no longer in her cell.

Instead, she was in what appeared to be a large, floating birdcage. It was secured to… something, she couldn't quite tell, by a large steel chain. The cage appeared to be made of the same metal. She sat up, and saw that she was at least fifty feet away from the walls and a surveillance platform that seemed to be the only spot in the whole room where people could stand, other than the cage. _Why aren't people on the floor?_ She wondered. She stood up and peered down, towards the source of the light. What she saw did not reassure her.

Amy was being suspended in the air 100 feet above a pool of lava.

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Ian swore. Why had they put her in the _ birdcage_, of all places? Why not a nice, safe, easy-to-escape cell? Of course, Ian knew why. The news was all over the Lucian base, and it had even leaked over to the Janus. Amy Cahill, the shyest girl in the competition, had stood up to Isabel Kabra, one of the most feared people in the world. Of course, the birdcage was almost inescapable, it usually scared the victim, and if they were being held, like Amy was, because of another person, it made the other person terrified for them.

Which was why Isabel was delivering the message to Ian herself.

He glared at her, now in open defiance. "Why?" his question was short and to the point, not pleading like he knew she wanted him to be.

"You know very well why." She replied. "Not even I have found a way to escape the birdcage, not that I would ever be in it. It is one of the most secure spots in the world for holding prisoners, and as an added protection, it's in Paris." She grinned that wolfish grin of hers, the kind that said she was going in for the kill. "And you know that Paris is almost impossible to get into without detection."

Ian swore again, though this time, it was just for show. He wasn't sure whether she had forgotten about the Madrigals or whether she was testing him to see if he remembered that, and had told Amy's friends.

"And you're confined in Paris, so no going out and telling her little friends where she is."

Ian swore for real this time. He couldn't think of any way to get the information to them, and if they invaded Paris, they'd have to get out fast.

Ian shut the door in his mother's face and began to plan.

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"Hey, guys?" Hamilton called. "I got a weird email from Ian."

Alistair was the first to walk over.

_Guys,_

_A problem has arisen. Isabel won't let me come out, and _

_Amy is somewhere I can't tell you or they'll intercept this._

_Hey, what can be done about it? I can't think of anything._

_Can I say something? Just… sorry for what happened with_

_The one thing in the Caribbean. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so,_

_um, Kabra-ish. I've learned that I don't really like my _

_family. Er… well, the Kabras, not the Cahills. I remember_

_Africa, and the, ah, helicopter incident. I was really_

_Spineless. Across my life, I'm realizing that I have been_

_Very disparaging._

_Sincerely,_

_Ian_

_Churchill_

Alistair frowned. What an odd letter. There was obviously some sort of code hidden in it, but what was it? Maybe Dan would know. "Dan," He called. "Can you make sense of this?"

Dan rushed into the room, closely followed by Nellie. "Hm…" he pondered. "Churchill…" his eyes widened. "Churchill note!" He was silent for a minute, reading through the note. "Nellie, what's a 'BRDCGE?'"

Her eyes widened. "Birdcage!"

Hamilton stood up. "Please, please, please tell me that you didn't say birdcage." He looked frantic. "Please!"

"Dude, what's the birdcage?" Dan demanded. "Not all of us grew up learning about this stuff!"

Nellie shook her head. "Nothing but the one Lucian prison that's virtually impossible to escape. Virtually. I've gotten out of it. No biggie. Then again, I had all my gear…" She sighed. "Well, now we need a different plan of attack. Let's go tell the other branch leader."

"Don't you mean both branch leaders?" Reagan asked, walking in with Madison. "Unless you visited the other one alone."

Nellie winced, like she'd let something slip. "Uh… yeah. I, uh, made my report to her already."

Alistair raised his eyebrows. "When?"

"Uh…" Nellie was at a loss for words. She had been with the others virtually 24/7. "I… uh… did it online. Um, over email. Yeah." She nodded firmly. "Let's go see him."

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_Sharks_, Amy mentally sighed. _Why does Isabel love them so much?_ About five minutes ago, a shark had jumped out of the lava.

Yes. A lava shark.

It couldn't reach the cage, luckily. Even though it couldn't get through the bars, it had had little bits of lava trailing from its tail. Again, Amy wondered what was with all of the sharks. They didn't even attack unless there was blood in the water. Or, in this case, lava. Amy wondered how the sharks could breathe, what the sharks ate, and how the sharks didn't burn up simply by swimming in the lava. And where their pee went. A shark jumped. Out of instinct, Amy flinched and lost her train of thought.

Perfect. Just what Isabel wanted. "So, Amy, what do you think of my sharks?" The voice was soft and quiet, but still deadly. It seemed to be coming from behind her, probably from a hidden speaker.

"Actually, I was wondering about how they work. Are they real or animatronic?" Amy asked absentmindedly.

"Real."

Amy nodded, lost in thought about how she could phrase her next question. "How are the sharks engineered? Genetically?"

The question took Isabel aback. "The _Charcarodon Lavus_ was genetically engineered five years ago."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "_Lava shark?_ Could you at least have come up with an interesting name for it? By the way, what _is_ it with all of the sharks? First Australia, now here. I'd think that it would be something at least a little more dangerous, like snakes. Sharks aren't venomous, they have lots of weak spots, and they don't go after you unless you're bloody or you look like a seal."

Now it was Isabel's turn to sound incredulous. "Do you really think that we didn't fix most of those? These sharks have rocky skin, so less weak points, and they'll go after whatever moves, even if it's not actually in the water. With those, do we really need to make them venomous? Though if it's snakes you want…" Her voice trailed off.

Amy got a feeling what was going to happen next. She jumped aside, just missing the Taipan that dropped down through the bars. It hissed, and slithered around on the floor as Amy climbed up on the elevated bed. She reached over to the closet – the cage's only other feature – and grabbed a long coat hanger. She poked the snake, slowly forcing it back to the bars. She poked it one more time, and it hissed and fell towards the lava. Amy walked over to the spot where it had fallen, just in time to see the sharks tear it apart into a bloody mess before it even hit the lava.

**Lava breathing sharks! **

**One of my friends and I also came up with a type of mini-shark, one that was so tiny that it swam through your veins and arteries and ate you inside out.**

**O.o **

**I have weird friends. **


	15. Chapter 15

Amy frowned. What did 'Unique_brkfst' mean? Obviously some sort of unique breakfast, but she didn't understand what that meant. She lay back on the bed and fell asleep.

_Amy is frozen in place, in an underground cave. She sees a taipan slithering towards her, except it has Isabel's face. Then it morphs to Ian, then Natalie, then each of the Starlings in turn, then back to Isabel. "HA!" is hisses as it slithers towards her. "HA!"_

_Then, suddenly, Amy is standing in the middle of a fire. She's four, in a kitchen. Everything is on fire, but nothing's burning. Her mother, Hope, walks in, carrying breakfast, a pancake face with strawberry eyes, a blueberry mouth, and zucchini curls. She bounces up and down. She loves to dip the curls in syrup. None of her friend's mothers do this. She bounces again, but abruptly everything is burning, and she's seven. Her mother comes in to get her, tells her to wait in the hall as she gets Dan. Telling her that if mommy doesn't come back in two minutes to run out. Her mother appears again, carrying four-year-old Dan. The roof to her room collapses and Amy screams._

She sat up with a start. _Nobody else's mother made delicious zucchini curls,_ she thought.

Amy froze. _Unique breakfast… pancakes… zucchini curls…_ She shook her head. No way. There was no way the last clue was zucchini. It was just too… too… ridiculous.

"Oh, Amy," Isabel's voice rang out, singsong. "Somebody wants to talk to you!"

The cage swung around, coming to a stop when it was three feet above the observation platform. The floor opened up, and Amy was dumped unceremoniously in a heap on the floor. She stood up and brushed herself off, putting her back to one of the walls in case she accidentally backed up. She squinted as bright lights came on. She blinked, seeing her visitor, and turned her back to him, facing the wall. She didn't want to talk to a traitor like Ian.

Ian seemed to be half-expecting this. "What did I do this time, Amy?" he asked wearily.

Surprised, she turned to face him. "What did you do?" her voice held so much pain, Ian flinched to hear it. "Ian. I've hated you since before Korea. Just when I was beginning to – god forbid – _like_ you, you trapped me in a cave, making the loathing and anger and pain go to a deeper level. I hated you with my entire being. When I went to one of the Madrigal bases, and had some calming time to talk to Nellie, she said that she thought that you had been sincere, just too controlled by your mother. I started to believe her, until the thing in the Caribbean, after the date." She spat out the last word, as if it disgusted her. "When Isabel grabbed me the first time, after you came to visit me, I decided that you were sincere, but you didn't visit again, so that I could tell you." She spoke, filled with sadness. "Then, when your mother was getting me from the Starlings, I was down. Your mother had hit me with a bola.

And then you spoke.

You had been standing there the whole time, not doing anything. You _gloated_. Just when I was ready to tell you that I forgave you, you betrayed me again. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little annoyed, Ian." Her voice was heavily layered with sarcasm.

Ian stepped back in shock. He hadn't known about this. "At that time, I was in LA, telling Nellie and the others where you were. I-I… the Lucians have voice mimickers. They can electronically copy any voice, any words, to perfection. I wasn't there. I was across the country. Amy, I've betrayed you at least fifty times or more since this stupid contest. I regret every single one of those times. For once, believe me. Amy, I love you."

As soon as those words were out of Ian's mouth, he froze, turning pale. As he backed up, Amy saw that he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was looking at something behind her. And that something could only be…

"You must know how much it disappoints me to hear that, Ian," Said Vikram Kabra, the most feared man on earth. "I had hoped that you had come to your senses."

His voice raised goose bumps on the back of Amy's neck. His voice was like Ian's, except there was something infinitely more dangerous hinted at in it.

Amy stumbled forward and spun around. Vikram was tall and imposing, having dark hair and pale skin. He was in a casual position, but something in that position, something subtle, said that he was like a snake, striking when and where you least expected it.

"F-f-father," Ian stuttered. "I-I thought that you were taking care of business in Karachi."

Vikram raised an eyebrow, looking so much like Ian for a moment that Amy checked that the real Ian was actually beside her. Wait, when had he gotten beside her? She looked around, checking for exits, but the only one beside the cage or the lava was behind Vikram, and Amy didn't want to take her chances facing him.

Vikram noticed her search for exits and chuckled. "Watchful as ever. There are no other exits. Except, of course, to the sharks and the lava. My wife was ever so inventive with those."

"L-l-lava breathing sh-sharks?" Amy internally cursed. Her stutter was back. "Th-those are in a-almost every b-book in existence. D-don't try t-to tell me th-that they're o-original."

Vikram shrugged. "The genetic engineering was original. Either way, I would like to talk to my son for a moment." He gestured towards the cage.

"You think that I'm going to just walk back in th-there?" Amy asked incredulously, not able to keep a bit of stutter from her voice.

"Well, it was worth a try." He sighed, then pressed a small button on a remote control.

Amy didn't realize what was happening until a silver, spider-like claw reached out and grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides. She shrieked and kicked at the claw, trying to break it, or to make it release her. She only froze during the brief time when she hung above the lava. The claw tossed her into the cage, dropping her roughly on the floor for the second time that day. She scrambled up, glaring at both men. "I feel sorry for you, Ian. I still hate your guts, but your parents are even worse than you."

And the cage carried her away.

**Wow, one long chapter! And a new character! St. Louis really is helping me think. I'm in Missouri for the weekend, and I've got a ton of new ideas, most of which are coming soon. Like, in the next chapter. Including more Natalie, and a bit of… well, I really shouldn't be telling you. You'll just have to find out!**

**Review! It's just a little green button, so easy to click, and you should just… just… click it!**


	16. Chapter 16

Dan gritted his teeth. They were just sitting there, doing nothing. Everyone else appeared to be soaking this up, even Madison. Reagan was also fidgety, though, he noticed. If she shifted that way, then the sun bounced off her hair, making it shine, and her face caught the light perfectly, making it look… well, perfect. She was _beautiful_. Dan didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before. She was…

…A hand was waving in his face. Hamilton was looking at him weirdly. "Dude, you zoned out. Can we talk?" he motioned to a room just off of the meeting-room. "They're busy talking about plans and stuff, and we can't contribute."

Dan nodded. "Okay." He was a little confused. He didn't know what Hammer wanted to talk to him about. He knew what had happened on his 'talk' with Amy, and he was pretty sure that this wasn't the same type of talk.

As Hamilton closed the door, he turned to face Dan. Dan got the impression that Hamilton was a little annoyed. "So." Hamilton raised his eyebrow. "Care to tell me why you were ogling my little sister?"

Dan blinked. He hadn't noticed that he was ogling Reagan. He was just looking at her perfect hair… and beautiful face… and… right. He shook his head. "Sorry. I was just… um."

Hamilton shook his head, a small smile on his face. "It's okay. I went through the same stage with Amy. I'm also a little overprotective of my little sisters, especially since the Ned thing." His face darkened. "You think they got the idea from the thing with Ian? And the cave?"

Dan shrugged. "Did they know about it?"

"They hacked Alistair's files, like his record of what had happened so far. He would have written that down." He shook his head again. "Off track. You like Reagan?"

Dan shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah. I mean… I think so. Well, I don't know. I've never liked anyone like that before."

Hamilton nodded his understanding. "Just try not to hurt her. You're okay, for a non-Tomas." They grinned, their sense of humor restored. "We should go out. They might want us."

As they opened the door, they caught the tail end of Nellie's sentence. "…and the purple elephant will–"

Hamilton interrupted. "No. Too obvious. They'll never fall for that."

Nellie sighed. "Back to the drawing board."

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"What do you want, Natalie?" Amy asked tiredly. On her third day, the cage had come to a rest on the platform, separating Amy and her visitor with a wall of bars.

Natalie smirked triumphantly "Well, I just wanted to know how it feels for you to lose, after all this time. We haven't decoded the clue yet, though we will."

_To gloat_, Amy thought. "So are you going to get the prize?"

Natalie shrugged. "Mummy and Father probably will. Not like it matters; the Kabra family is going to win."

"And what are they going to do with it?" Amy demanded.

Natalie shrugged again, a tiny bit of doubt creeping into her face. "Rule the world, I suppose. I've never really given it much thought."

Amy nodded sadly. "That's what I thought. What if it's a weapon?"

Natalie rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious. "Well, we blackmail people. And if they don't do what we want, we destroy them."

"That's what I, and the other Madrigals, are afraid of. Natalie. Do you really think that they'll stop?"

"What do you mean?"

"If the mayor of one city, or the president of a country, defies them, will they only kill him? Or will they destroy the entire country because of one man's unwillingness? Think of it. Millions of people killed, because one man is to stubborn to face the facts."

Natalie's eyes were wide. She had never considered this point of view.

"You know Isabel. Consider just what she would do to get power. Millions of innocent people who just want to survive." Her voice took on a pleading tone. "What if she decided that she didn't like you?"

Natalie gasped. "But… but Mummy…"

"I don't know your father that well, but if it were in his best interests to get rid of you, he would." Amy spoke gently. She knew that it would hurt Natalie, but she needed to be able to see the bigger picture.

"I…they wouldn't. They couldn't!" her eyes were wide.

"They wouldn't?" Amy said quietly. "Think. What would they do to achieve their ends? Put a fourteen-year-old girl into a cage floating above hot lava and predatory sharks because her son likes her? I don't want to admit it, but I can't deny it. Maybe you should think about doing the same. I'm only asking you to think."

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Natalie sat in her room, staring at her wall. Would Mummy and Father really… eliminate her, if she became a problem? She shook her head. There was only one person that would know, that she could talk to.

She rang Ian's doorbell. "Ian?" She called.

A minute later, the door opened. Ian looked impeccable, though somehow… tired. Natalie knew that she looked the same, but she didn't care. For once, this was more important than clothes or money. "Do you want to gloat some more, Natalie?" he asked. "Haven't you reveled in your own perfection enough?"

She ignored his jibe, getting to the point. "I talked to Amy."

He sighed disappointedly. "So you're here to gloat."

"No."

"What?"

"You heard me, Ian. I talked to Amy." She locked eyes with him. "How much do Mummy and Father care about us?"

The question seemed to take him by surprise. "Do you really want to know?"

She seemed to deflate. "That's what I was afraid of. What if it's a weapon? The prize?"

Ian shook his head. "Then everyone is toast. If the Holts win it, the world will explode, whether that's their intention or not." He grinned a little bit, though it was a fleeting happiness. "If we win it…"

"… Mummy and Father will get it." Natalie finished.

"If Alistair wins it, he'll do something dumb. Smart, but idiotic." Natalie nodded. The man had no common sense. "The same would happen with the Starlings. They would fight among each other too much. Irina would have been responsible, but…" a shadow passed over his face. "… She can't win anymore. The only responsible people left in the competition are Dan and Amy. They have to win."

Natalie nodded. It was the only reasonable option left.

**Natalie agreeing that she couldn't win… Amazing! It's a paradox!**

**And finally some Dan/Reagan! I've been waiting for this since chapter three!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I added at least three more twists into this chapter, so read carefully. Since I haven't done one in seventeen chapters, a disclaimer: I do not own the thirty-nine clues. I only own the plot and a bit of the personalities. And the birdcage.**

**Also, I'm going to add a new poll on my profile soon, so check it out!**

_Amber… Irina, spinning around to face the Man in Black, Fiske Cahill, gasping, "You!"… The ride in the Shark… Nataliya… Alliance with Reagan and Hammer… Reagan…_

Dan's eyes snapped open. Madison was poking him. "You fell asleep at the conference table," She said as an explanation. "Nellie thinks that you might have an idea about how to get Amy back."

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. "I have an idea." The others looked at him expectantly. "Everyone seems to forget that we have an inside Lucian."

The Holts looked confused. Mr. McIntyre nodded. "Nataliya."

"She can give us the access codes for the Lucian base. If you have to be a Lucian to open it, either she can open it herself…"

"Too risky," Nellie interrupted. "She has hemophilia."

Dan nodded. "Then we have one other option. I know you're not going to like it, but we need someone who can hack virtually anything. An Ekat."

"I cannot hack anything. It seems that I am also prone to being hacked," Alistair sighed.

"I thought so." Dan's expression was grim. "There are only three people who we know who can do that, and whether we like it or not, we need their help."

Madison looked murderous. "Those…."

Reagan nodded. "I know, Mad. I hate them, too. But this is the only way we can get Amy back."

Madison sighed. "Do we have to?"

"You can get even with Ned," Reagan coaxed.

Her sister grinned. "Fine. But I want to talk to Ned alone."

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"They want a temporary alliance?" Ted asked. "I'm confused. They remember the way the last one ended."

Ned nodded. "Yes, but once their mysterious insider gets the codes, we open the base and stay remote."

Sinead nodded. "It makes sense. We haven't decoded that sequence from Amy's DNA yet, and they might not have even figured out which bit. Still, if we help, we're practically handing them the last Clue. Amy herself has probably already figured it out."

"But do we deserve it?" Ned interrupted. The other two looked at him in confusion. "We couldn't even keep Amy for forty-eight hours, and that was under our top security. Besides, what would we do if we won? Blackmail the entire world? Who wants to live forever, if it's that?" he sighed and shook his head. "They deserve it."

Ted slowly nodded. "I see what you mean. For all we're brainy, we're really bad at lots of things, whereas Amy and Dan are almost the perfect combination of the four – sorry, five – branches." His eyes widened. "No way!"

Ned and Sinead immediately understood. "Computer, what branch was Arthur Trent?" Sinead instructed.

"Arthur Trent, Deceased," the computer's tinny voice rang out. "Married Hope Cahill, also deceased. Branch: Unknown, but it is rumored that he is related to all four branches."

Ned and Ted looked at each other, then said in unison, "I can't wait to tell Dan!"

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"Ian! I found them!" Natalie called out. For the past week, they had been searching for the Madrigal Lucian insider. They had had to go slow, making sure that neither of their parents knew about their search. "Or at least, I think I did," she added. Natalie never would have admitted that she could be wrong if it weren't for the direness of their situation. Isabel and Vikram had no idea that their daughter had come to her senses.

"Really? How do you know?" Ian walked into her room.

"Did Amy and Dan follow someone while they were in Russia? NRR?"

"Yes." Ian looked surprised. "I'd forgotten. Give me their contact info?"

Natalie whispered something in Ian's ear. "You should take a while to find them, go to various spots around the world before and after. Lucian bases. Make a tour of them."

Ian nodded. "Father might let me, as long as I only go to Lucian bases. I'll contact them."

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"This place is secure? From everyone?" Ian asked. He was in Russia, his third stop. He would be making seven.

"Right now, anyone spying is seeing and hearing us talk about spyware and various Russian delicacies." Nataliya replied. "How did you find out that I was the 'mole,' as you put it?"

Ian shrugged. "Mother trusts you a little too much. It took a little bit of digging, but I found evidence of two children hiding in the Shark, incidentally at the same time Amy and Dan arrived at the black circle. With your initials, NRR, it was only too obvious." He took a deep breath. "I need to get a message to Dan and his friends. Two messages, actually. But one is very sensitive. The first is that Isabel is using the lava sharks."

Nataliya cursed under her breath. "I knew that I should not have developed those for her."

"Still, it's why she trusts you." Ian consoled. "As to the other message, I need to deliver it personally. Tell Nellie to meet me right outside of DC. I trust her to be able to escape."

Nataliya raised an eyebrow. "It's that sensitive? So sensitive that you need to risk discovery? So sensitive that only one of the Madrigal leaders can know?"

Ian nodded briefly. "It's that sensitive. But I have one more message for you, though you should pass it on."

"What is it?"

"There is a plan, as soon as we get Amy and everyone else who cares out of there. I can access the controls, especially with certain help that I have reason to believe will be there."

"Who?" Nataliya asked. "I do not know the whole plan."

"You've given them the open codes, but you have to be Lucian to speak them, in Paris. I think that they'll recruit the Starlings again."

Nataliya nodded. "Impressive. It certainly makes sense. What is your plan?"

Ian took a deep breath. "Even if it works, Isabel and Vikram might escape. This won't be a permanent solution, but it should work short term. I know that I'm avoiding the point, but it even sort of disturbs me. I've lived there almost all my life, and well…" he trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Paris is going to blow."


	18. Chapter 18

Ian paced. He was stopping in Paris for a few days before going to DC. He was anxious, worrying that Nataliya could be found out, or Natalie could be found out. He knew that his mother and father already suspected him. He suddenly stopped. Why didn't he visit Amy? He shrugged, and walked out the door.

When he reached Amy, she was already being dropped onto the platform. He glanced at her, and blinked. It had been four days since he had last seen Amy, and she already looked different. She looked more worn out, her hair a silky tangle, and were those… burn marks? "Amy?" he asked hesitantly. "Have my parents… been torturing you? You're burned."

Amy winced. "Two days ago, I got lowered about fifty feet. The sharks jump and bang into the cage, and sometimes splatter me with little lava droplets. It's okay, it's nothing too big." She attempted a smile.

Ian examined the rest of her. She did look a little bruised up. "So you're okay?"

She nodded, then seemed to ask a question with her eyes and body language. Her eyes asked, _when?_ And her body language said, _escape._

Ian's eyes widened to show that he had understood. He coughed three times. _Three days._

She nodded. "Are you still confined to Paris?"

He shrugged. "Mother and Father decided that I would be fine just confined to Lucian bases, so I'm visiting a few of them. I haven't seen Karachi or Russia," He made eye contact with Amy as he said the last country. "In forever. Just a visit."

She nodded. "Okay. Good luck."

He nodded back. "You too. I know that you might not want to believe me, Amy, but I love you."

She hesitated. "I-I'm not sure about my own feelings, but I accept that yours are genuine. I just… have to think on it."

He nodded, stepped forward hesitantly, and hugged her, while slipping her a small bottle of acid. "Just in case," he whispered.

She nodded, and he left.

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"So, you guys want her out of there, too."

"Yeah."

"Not like last time."

"Nope. This time is genuine."

Nellie raised an eyebrow. "Hm. I'll believe you… for now. If I see just a hint of a double-crosser…" she trailed off, leaving their intelligent minds to end the sentence themselves. "By the way, Ned?"

The boy gulped. Madison had been eyeing him evilly the whole talk.

"I think that Madison would like to have a talk with you."

"A-a-about what?" he asked, channeling Amy for a moment.

Nellie raised an eyebrow. "Did you know that the first time Amy saw Ian after him betraying her, she almost broke his leg in one kick? Amy is one of the physically weakest in the whole competition." she grinned evilly. "I hate to think about what a Holt would do."

And she left the room, along with the others.

Madison stared at Ned.

And stared.

And stared.

Finally, Ned broke the silence. "Look, I know that I'm a jerk. Please don't kick me too hard."

She shrugged. "Well, if you know that you screwed up, then I guess that I don't have to kick you. You guys just need to understand that we have feelings, too. How would you feel if we kidnapped Sinead?"

He winced. "That would suck. I guess that I understand. I'm not like Ian Kabra. Dude's a total jerk."

"You'd be surprised" Madison grinned. "He's actually on our side, now. Like you." She made a face at him.

"Look, I screwed up, okay? I didn't even want to be in a relationship until the hunt was over. Do you have an idea about how you're going to get into their base?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Here's the plan. We're going to get the codes from a secret inside source. Then, you three do your computery stuff, Hammer rigs a communicator, and we go in and spring Amy. Then, once our mysterious inside Lucian whose name I do not know gives the signal that everybody worth saving is out, we blow Paris. Got that?"

Ned nodded. "Got it."

Meanwhile, Ted and Sinead were also being stared/glared at, especially Sinead.

Ted broke the silence. "Before you tell us your mission plan, we have some news about Dan."

Nellie switched her glare from Sinead to Ted, who gulped. "What is it?"

"Well, um, we noticed that Dan and Amy exhibit a lot of traits of all four – sorry, five – branches. Our file of Arthur Trent says that he was rumored to be a descendant of _all four_ other branches."

"That is so freaking awesome!" Dan yelled. "But wait… that means that we're related to the Kabras! Eeww!"

Nellie rolled her eyes. The little dude reacted way too much.

Probably.

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Amy woke up as her cage jarred to a halt. She sat up, expecting to see a visitor. Instead, she realized that she had been lowered again, closer to the lava.

How close? Five feet.

The sharks were circling her cage, occasionally swimming under it. One of them jumped, smacking into the cage. She shrieked as she felt the molten rock touch her skin. She shook it up and down, trying to get it off. She didn't mind the droplets that hit her skin, only the palm-sized burn on her upper left arm. A shark jumped again, this time hitting the cage so hard that it swung around, making Amy lose her balance and fall. _More bruises,_ she thought miserably.

The sharks jumped again and again, bringing lava with them, and banging the cage, adding to Amy's bruise and burn collection. After a while, Amy almost incoherently realized that the sharks had stopped. On the last jump, Amy had fallen and hit her head. As Amy sat up to take inventory, she saw movement at the corner of her eye. What resembled a whip-like strand of lava was heading at high speed, straight towards her face. She _screamed_ as it hit her, diagonally from her left temple to just below her ear. It hurt more than anything.

_At least she won't hurt me when I'm unconscious,_ Amy thought as she slipped into blackness.

**Lava sharks. Again. And Ned and Madison talking, and not killing each other. I guess Madison's more forgiving than Amy. Or just too… simple, I guess, to really hold a grudge.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm taking bits of Natalie's conscience from Storm Warning, so some bits belong to the author. But most of it is mine. **

When Natalie looked at Amy through her hidden camera (one of many) in the cage, she was shocked. Amy had collapsed on the bed, probably unconscious. She had burns all over her body, and one really bad burn across her face. Luckily, it had gone just above her eyes, though it would probably scar. As Natalie looked closer, she saw that Amy also had a multitude of bruises, varying shades of purple, blue, red-purple, and green. Bits of her clothing had been burnt off.

And it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Ian had last seen her.

If Natalie had had any lingering doubts that Isabel wasn't actually evil and malicious, they were gone. She and Ian had always planned to leave by the time things got bloody, but for Isabel's schemes, they had stayed to see the results. And in Africa, when Dan was about to be pushed into the helicopter, she had _laughed_. That should have been the first warning that something was wrong with her mother. But she had thought that Isabel would have… intervened, or something. That she would have stopped the blade. Nobody had died, so she was able to shrug it off. But now, seeing the battered girl, just three years older than her, on the screen, Natalie was no longer able to deny anything. She knew that people called her mother a psychopath. Now she knew why.

And there was only one thing that she could do about it.

She walked to an Internet café that she knew her parents didn't monitor, then placed a call using a cell phone that she had just bought five minutes ago from a non-Lucian. She had taken every precaution possible. As the phone rang, she prepared what to say.

"Hello?" the phone was answered on the fourth ring.

"This is a Lucian contact." She replied, not daring to say her name. "Has Ian contacted you yet?"

"We have a meeting set for tomorrow."

She cursed under her breath, damning all idiot brothers. "Then he didn't tell you that you have a second Lucian contact. If you doubt my validity, call him and tell him that I gave you code NEK."

"… Your middle name is Eli–"

"Don't say it! They can still track me with that much. Yes, it is. Yes, it is I. Yes, this is of utmost secrecy. Don't tell the others, except for your branch leaders. Otherwise, it's too dangerous."

"I understand. Why are you calling?"

"It can't wait two more days. It has to be tonight."

"_What?_ Has Isabel started…" the voice trailed off.

"Yes. And it's bad. Third degree burns and lots of bruises. She might not survive one more day, let alone two."

The voice cursed. "We'll do our best. We signal when we're ready, you signal when everyone who can be saved is out."

"Deal." she replied. "But be careful. Make sure that they don't know that it's me."

"Don't worry." The voice sounded like it was about to laugh. "They won't know it's you. But make yours sort of… conspicuous. Okay?"

"Okay." Natalie hung up. She would start getting people out now. She had no idea when the signal would come, so she had to be on the lookout. She also had to be extra careful. She couldn't have her parents finding out.

She grinned internally. This was going to be fun.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

As soon as Natalie had hung up, Nellie called Ian to check in. Since his parents knew he was communicating, they had to talk in code. Ian picked up on the first ring. "Hello?"

"An agent gave me a code. NEK?"

Nellie could almost hear his eyebrow going up. "True. It's that urgent?"

"Yes. Four days?" Four meant one. "Actually, maybe a little less."

"Alright. The soonest that I can start putting everything together is tomorrow." Tomorrow meant now.

"Hm. Okay. Be sure that it's ready by then. We'll signal in the place we need you to go."

"Good. I should go now."

He hung up.

Nellie pressed the call button for Dan, Hamilton, Reagan, Madison, Alistair, McIntyre, and the Starlings to come to the meetingroom. Once they had all arrived, she spoke. "The situation is urgent. Amy is hurt. We don't know the exact extent of the injuries, only that they're bad. We need a quick operation, in, out, boom. Starlings, start downloading a map. Holts, Alistair, battle plan. Dan, be the go-between. William, I need you to come with me."

He nodded. "Security?"

"Higher than top."

He raised his eyebrows, but followed her to the most secure room in the whole world.

As soon as the fifteen doors had closed, she turned to him. "We have a new inside Lucian."

"Who? I assume that he or she gave Amy's status. Nataliya couldn't, she's in Russia."

"You'll be surprised," Nellie warned. "But it's Natalie Kabra."

"So Amy has somehow managed to finally convince her about the homocidical and pyromaniac tendencies of her mother." he was unable to keep a certain mesure of awe from his voice. "We have been trying to poke holes in it for months, and Amy manages it in two weeks."

Nellie shrugged. "She's a smart girl, and she has Janus, Madrigal, and Ekat tactics, and she can apply to Natalie's sense of being Lucian. She's going to signal once all of the non-mass-murderers are out."

"Good. I already have an idea for our signal…"

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Amy groaned as she came to. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. Especially her face. She tried to sit up and winced as five burns rubbed against the bed. She slowly maneuvered so that she was fully on the bed, hoping that three days had passed. If not, she hoped that Ian or Natalie were aware of her problem. She figured that Natalie had placed at least one hidden camera, since she was Natalie. She also hoped that Natalie had gotten the message to everyone else, and that they brought painkiller. She could barely breathe without accidentally touching a bruise or a burn. Every time she moved her face, the long, thin burn flared with pain. It had missed her eyes, so she wouldn't go blind, but it would probably leave a scar, as would some of the other burns. _Ian, Natalie hurry up,_ she mentally begged. _If the sharks continue, we'll have more problems than one._ She winced as she shifted her leg and touched one of the worse burns. _And I might not be able to run._

**The Great Escape, next chapter! Unfortunately, I might not be able to post that until the fourth, the day after school gets out. Finally. I've been waiting for like, ten months.**

**Despite school only being nine months long. I can't wait for eighth grade. I heard that it's much easier than seventh.**

**Squee! Ninth book came out. Now I'll have to write a prequel to explain how my story differs from the real ninth book. Oops, did I say have to? I mean got to. I like writing.**

**Review! And look at my poll. I need people to vote in it, I might not be able to write the next chapter until somebody votes!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I was thinking of doing a little bit of first-person, at least at the beginning. Tell me if you like it or not!**

Amy's POV:

As I shifted around on the bed, trying to get comfortable without hitting any major burns or bruises, I suddenly thought about why Isabel had grown to be so masochistic. Had she just been the type of child who kicked puppies and killed bugs with magnifying glasses? Was it the way her parents had raised her? Or had something happened later in life? I mean, especially after this, I know that I could never turn out like her. But maybe, for her… maybe it's her way of getting back to people. I mean, some people are just born nice, and some are born mean. I don't mean that everyone has to stay that way. Irina changed, and so have Ian and Natalie. It's just… for some, there's a point of no return. Everyone's is different. Irina had, thankfully, not reached hers. She was born good, but then Isabel took her on a mission while her son was sick, and he died. I read about it in the Madrigal files. It was one of the first things that I picked up. Irina turned good when she made the choice to help somebody live, instead of just standing by again. Like she had done so many times. Isabel… I didn't have the chance to read up on her file. For someone like her, who is so bad… something really big must have happened. Maybe she was bad to begin with, then she became meaner. I don't have enough experience with Vikram to say the same, but the reports of him… he seems as bad, if not worse, than Isabel. Ian and Natalie, especially Natalie, both seemed to be bad. But instead of a point of no return, they had the opposite, I guess. Something that they weren't willing to do. In Africa, at the airport, I saw the looks on their faces. Natalie looked like she thought that Isabel was just going to… to stop at the last minute, or to intervene. Ian just looked like he couldn't believe that he had flipped the switch. I think that if I had waited a moment more, one of them would have snapped, or something, and the other would have followed.

I was brought out of my reverie by the cage moving. I groaned as I realized that this must mean that the sharks were starting again, but then realized that the cage was moving _up._ I had a visitor. This time, when the cage had reached the platform, I was gently lowered onto the ground. Or was it into the person's hands? I couldn't tell. I was barely coherent. My senses weren't that good. "I…Ian?" I croaked. My voice felt raw, underused.

"Hush, love." He murmured. It _was_ Ian. "It's going to be alright. I'm going to make everything alright." He gently set me down, and started putting something that stung at first, but then was nice and cool onto my burns. Despite my eyes being closed, I noticed that he hesitated before putting the cream on my face burn. Each touch was sending a tingle up my spine – the good kind.

The breath was knocked out of me as I realized something. Hamilton was my friend. Ian was my love. I was in love with Ian. I hated him after all of the things that he'd done to me, but I just kept going back and trusting him. Ian had done everything in his power to help me, and in the Caribbean, I had blamed him for something that he didn't know he was doing to me. I had trusted him, and he betrayed me the first time. And then I didn't trust him when I should have. Ever since the cave, he had been under extreme pressure from his mother. And Isabel was a very forceful woman. And his father. Just by entering the room, Vikram made you nervous beyond all belief. If Dan met him, he might have an asthma attack. And he was directing all that force at Ian. It was hard to blame him.

And now that I saw that, I had finally forgiven him. And now that all of those blocks were down, nothing was disguising her feelings.

"Ian…" she had to tell him. Just in case… she wouldn't think that. "I…"

"Don't talk, love." he bent down, speaking into her ear. "Five minutes."

I wondered what would be happening in five minutes, and I didn't dare to hope what I thought it might have been.

I was persistent, though. "Ian…I…" I hacked and coughed. I only stopped when I felt something dribble down my throat. I hadn't realized that I was dehydrated, but I realized that I hadn't had anything to drink in a day or so. Once I'd had enough, Ian stopped. "Ian… I… I l-love you."

He was silent for a minute. "Amy, are you sure?"

I nodded, then winced. I had forgotten about my bruises.

He was silent for another minute, and then he kissed me. The kiss was slow and hesitant, as though he was unsure. When I kissed back, or at least tried to, he drew back and gently sat me up. I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to get used to the light. The blinking made the burn hurt. I made a small noise, but then Ian kissed me again and I forgot all about the burns.

It was like nothing I'd ever imagined. It was like seeing something truly amazing for the first time, like I had never heard music, and then I heard the most magnificent piece of all time, Taylor Swift's _You Belong With Me_. How appropriate. It was like the world was suddenly filled with color. Somehow, instinctively, I knew that Ian was my soul mate, and nothing would ever be the same again. It was like something inside of me, an empty place that I hadn't even known existed, was filling up, expanding and filling my skin until I was whole. For those few… was it minutes? Seconds? Days? I could hardly care. It was happiness and love, pure and simple. Completely different than what I had felt with Hamilton.

And then I heard the one voice that I least expected to hear.

"What the hell are you doing to my sister, Cobra?"

**Okay, I lied. Escape next chapter, kiss this chapter. Wow, I can't believe that I wrote 1000 words just of Amy's first person.**

**And I really, REALLY need people to vote in my poll! It's important!**

**Review and tell me how you liked first person. Please?**


	21. Chapter 21

Dan balled his fists. _What was Cobra _doing_?_ He forced his fists to unclench. And breathe. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Ian was not the one who had burned or bruised Amy. By the look of the balm on the floor, he had been helping her burns get better. He was just... kissing her. Disgusting. Now, if it was Dan and Reagan…

He shut down the thought. _Not! The! Time!_

Amy gave a little cough. She seemed flustered. "I… should think… it obvious." Her voice was soft and strained.

"What is the extent of your injuries?" Nellie asked, getting straight to business. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. "She sent the signal. Everyone who isn't a complete jerk, except for us, is out. We lured the Terror Parents away, but they'll be back soon, and we want Amy out of here by then."

Ian stood up, gently handing Amy over to Dan, who helped her to stand. "Aside from a multitude of burns and bruises, at least five serious, she's dehydrated, hungry, and dazed. I haven't had a chance to scan for illnesses, poisons, or other internal problems, but no symptoms have appeared, so we should get out of here. I suggest that we administer lots of painkiller, just for the duration of the escape, in case we need to move quickly."

Nellie nodded. "Here, let me do that." as soon as she turned around to administer the drug, Dan turned to Ian, leaving Nellie supporting Amy.

"Cobra, I swear, if you ever hurt my sister again, you'll regret it. If you're still alive." Dan spoke in a low voice. He didn't want Amy to hear.

Ian nodded fervently. "I don't plan to." His noise level matched Dan's, though his tone was different. "If I did, I'm not sure that I could live with myself."

"Amy, are you all right? You can stand okay?" Nellie had finished giving Amy the painkiller.

Amy nodded, looking wobbly but standing. "Let's go."

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

"Okay, now continue on to the next door on the right…" Sinead instructed from afar.

"Okay." Nellie replied into the phone. "We're there."

"Now go five feet to the left and… Turn back! Turn back!"

"What?" Nellie shouted. "Why?"

"Me." Said a voice from the door they were about to enter. "Hello, Amy. Ian." It was Isabel.

"Mother." there was no warmth in Ian's voice. "You do realize that you're outnumbered?"

Nellie paled and stepped back as Isabel held up what appeared to be a dart gun/machine gun.

"Not with this. Let's see… what poison… deep sleep? Too soft… hmm… oh, I have the perfect thing!" she exclaimed. "Nightmare specialty."

Now Ian's and Dan's faces went white.

"Nightmare specialty," muttered Dan. "Lucian poison. 2007. Targets fear centers of the brain, and contains a drug that makes it impossible to wake up for twelve hours. Twelve full hours of the most horrific nightmares ever, including your worst fears."

"Dan, please, stop," Amy hissed. "I don't want to know! Isn't 'avoid it' good enough?"

"Sorry," Dan hissed back. "Can't help it. I researched Lucian poisons on the flight here."

"Nighty-night. Sweet dreams." Isabel began to pull the trigger, but suddenly, behind her there was a flash of light. Isabel flinched, dropping the dart gun.

"I could say the same to you, Mother." Isabel collapsed, unconscious. Somebody had shot her in the back with a dart gun. Who–?

"Natalie?" croaked Dan.

"The One and Only." Natalie stepped out from the doorway. "Sorry it took me so long. I had to get a flash grenade, and those are not easy to get."

Dan glared at Nellie, the only one of their group not to look surprised. "You knew, didn't you? You knew and you didn't tell us!"

"I told her not to tell," Natalie interrupted. "Honestly? It's just too easy for you to accidentally blab, and then who's going to take out Mother from behind?"

The phone beeped, cutting off Dan's reply.

"Hello?" Nellie picked it up. "Sinead? Yeah, everyone's okay. Yes, Nat's on our team. Now let's move."

"Don't call me Nat," Natalie muttered. "And just because I saved your butts doesn't mean I like any of you." She added to the rest of the group. "Now be careful. Father's around here somewhere, and we need to avoid him at all costs."

As they started moving, Amy dropped back to talk with Natalie. "What made you realize that I was right?" she asked.

Natalie shrugged. "It was your talk, mostly. And the evidence that was right in front of my own eyes. I just… I realized that I've never actually killed someone, or had someone die in front of me. I think… I think my subconscious was messing up all my plans, making sure that nobody died. In Africa, with the propeller… I've been having nightmares." She confessed. "Ever since our talk, two weeks ago. It's… we're in Korea. I'm going back to open the tomb, but when I open it, it's your corpses. And you climb out, like zombies, and you start to grab me, and drag me down. The last thing I see before Ian closes the tomb on me is his face. It's like he's nonverbally telling me that he's sorry, but my elimination is necessary. And then I hear Mummy laughing. That… that cold one, that chills you to the bone. And then I wake up."

Amy winced. "It must be horrible," she said. "Being like… well, like you were, then suddenly having me wake you up and face the stuff you did. I'm sorry, but it was, well, necessary. You needed to wake up."

Natalie nodded emphatically. "I understand. It's just… growing up like that, then realizing that whatever you did was horrible, and it hurt someone. And your parents, your role models, the people you want to be in your life kill and hurt people. That your whole life has been centered around the destruction of lives and families. My parents actually told me that they loved me once." Natalie's voice was flat. "I believed them, at the time. But now… now I see that they're just a pair of lying, scheming murderers."

"How sorry I am to hear you say that, my daughter." Everybody jumped. Right behind them stood the mastermind behind the Cahill murder, the Amy kidnapping, and more than half of all the pain and suffering in the world.

Behind them stood Vikram Kabra.

**Wow, two chapters in four hours. Must be some kind of record. Either way, another cliffie! Sorry, but I won't be able to post until tomorrow at the earliest. Even I have to sleep. But it'll be good, hopefully.**

**Special thanks to my 100****th**** reviewer, Cahills1411! I never dreamed that I'd get over 25 reviews, let alone over 100! Thank you all so much! Please, review with lots of constructive criticism!**


	22. Chapter 22

"F-f-father," Natalie stammered.

"I am disappointed in you, Natalie. I felt that you would make a better decision than this. Now, I fear I must depart with my _dear_ son and his girlfriend." He raised an eyebrow, as if expecting them to go willingly with him.

"If you think that we're going with you, you're–" Amy was cut off by a series of surprisingly painful coughs, followed up by an ache in all of her limbs and her head. "Uh… painkiller wearing off." She muttered, trying to quell the migraine that she had developed.

When her head was in her hands, Vikram lunged forward, moving surprisingly fast. He darted towards her, trying to grab–

Nellie was standing in front of her, blocking Vikram from recapturing her. She saw recognition in his eyes as he stood back, evaluating her. "Miss… what is your current alias? Ah. Miss Gomez. It has been a while since I last saw you." Moving lightning fast, a foot darted towards Nellie's head. Just as fast, she reached up and blocked it.

"And it's been forever since I last saw you. Still kidnapping important Madrigals?" She threw a fist towards his head. He dodged it, going for hers. She stepped to the side and threw him over her hip, yelling, "Move! Incoming!" at Ian, who stepped aside. Vikram twisted in the air, landing on his feet. "You're getting sloppy. Five years ago, I never could have thrown you."

"Are you not considering that I _let_ you throw me?" he asked, smirking. Vikram was closer to Amy than Nellie was.

Nellie's eyes widened, and she moved at the same time he did. Instead of darting towards Amy, she lunged at Natalie's dart gun, grabbing it and shooting, forcing him to dodge away from Amy. Dropping the gun, she stepped behind him, twisting his arms up and behind his back. Both combatants were panting heavily.

"There is one thing that you forgot to take into consideration," Vikram breathed deeply.

Nellie's eyes were suspicious. "What is it?"

"I always fight dirty."

A fist shot out from concealment, hitting Nellie squarely in the jaw. She stumbled back, dropping to the floor against the wall. Isabel came out from the shadows. "You should know by now that Lucian leaders need to have a resistance to certain poisons." She gloated, grinning broadly. She made a little motion to Vikram, and suddenly, they were both on Amy. Isabel distracted her while Vikram got behind her and pinned her arms behind her back.

She struggled, trying to work her hands out of Vikram's hold, but it was useless. Not only was his grip as strong as steel, but she was weak and getting weaker as the painkillers wore off. "Let… go…" she coughed.

"Not a chance." Isabel's smile was cold. "Now. Ian? Natalie? I believe that we were departing."

Ian and Natalie were hesitant, obviously wanting to stay, but not wanting Amy to get hurt. Ian was the first to reach a decision, walking slowly forward to stand at the front of the group. "No."

"No?" Vikram raised an eyebrow. "Well then. I wonder how many appendages she needs." still holding Amy with one hand, he brought out a switchblade.

The moment Amy saw the knife, her blood ran cold. Adrenaline raced through her veins. The world gained an icy clarity, and time seemed to stop. Amy did the only thing that she could think of. She stomped on Vikram's foot.

He yowled, and instinctively released her to massage his foot. Seeing Isabel blocking the was to her allies, she raced the other way, taking random turns and hoping that she didn't run into a dead end. Isabel ran after her, ignoring Vikram, still hopping around on one foot. Dan and Natalie were hampered by carrying Nellie. Ian followed after Isabel. As she glanced at a map, she realized that they were on a top level. There was a way to the roof not far from here. A plan began forming in her mind.

"Ian!" she shouted back.

"What?" he yelled at her.

"Australia!"

"Huh?"

"Australia!"

"Oh!" Ian slowed down, quickly talking into their phone. Isabel chased after her. Amy hoped that she had no clue what Amy's plan was.

As Amy sped up a flight of stairs, her breath became labored. The adrenaline had given her a boost and nulled the pain, but it was starting to wear off, and her burns and bruises were aching. Finally, she reached the roof. It was very big, bigger than Amy thought that it would be. She ran in a random direction, away from the edge. Isabel followed.

"You're cornered." Isabel was still wearing that triumphant smile that scared Amy so much. Or, at least, used to scare her. "There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."

Amy scanned the roof, looking for a way to delay until some support got here. There! A twenty-foot-tall radio beacon. It had hand and foot holds, easy for someone in sneakers or bare feet to climb, but Isabel was wearing stilettos. Amy briefly wondered how she had managed to keep up with Amy.  
"Oh, yeah?" she shot back. "I'd look again." She took off running towards the beacon, but she was getting tired. She could hear Isabel's high heels tapping behind her, catching up slowly but surely. Unless Amy could put on more speed, she would be in Isabel's grasp before she reached the beacon. Her brain was slowing, and she felt like she was trying to run through molasses.

Suddenly, beats filled the air. A helicopter was making its way to the base, speeding at speeds Amy wouldn't have thought possible. Isabel, startled by its appearance, slowed down. Amy sped ahead, reaching the beacon and climbing up seven feet before Isabel reached the bottom.

Amy had underestimated Isabel. The stilettos did not hamper her climbing. On the contrary, she seemed to scramble up like a monkey, and by the time Amy had reached the fifteen-foot mark, Isabel was literally on her heels. Just like on the boat in Australia, Isabel reached up and grabbed an ankle. Amy kicked and screamed, but it didn't seem to do any good. As the helicopter's beats got louder and louder, Amy could feel herself losing her grip. Her palms were sweaty, and Isabel was just too strong.

It happened so quickly.

Isabel's hand slipped, brushing up against one of the worse burns on the side of her foot. Amy screamed and lost her grip, and as she fell, Isabel's perfectly moisturized hand lost its grip, not being able to hold Amy's weight from that angle. Amy was falling through fifteen feet of thin air to hit a solid metal floor.

And then the helicopter was there. It had swooped in unnoticed, for the most part. Neither of them had realized exactly how close it was until it was there. As Amy fell, a long ladder dropped down, a ladder with someone on it. He reached out a hand and grabbed her, bringing her around to the ladder, hauling her up. As the helicopter flew away, Isabel screaming curses in the background, Amy realized that she had finally escaped. It was all over. Well, not quite. She had to give the clue to Dan and Nellie, and she had to somehow get Isabel and Vikram off the Lucian council. And… wait, wasn't there supposed to be a bomb?

And weren't Ian, Natalie, Dan, and Nellie still inside?

**I had to rewrite that three times to get it right. Either way, we're quickly drawing to a close. And yet, there are still a few mysteries to be solved… The greatest and most foremost of them being that the other four rescuers are still inside a building that's going to explode in a million pieces in a few minutes.**

**Oh, well. Enjoy!**


	23. Chapter 23

"We have to go back! They're still in there! It's going to explode any minute now!" The helicopter made no attempt to turn. Amy turned to her rescuer, who she had assumed was Hamilton. But now she realized that they were different builds, and that the person in the shadows was leaning against the wall in a very familiar posture. "Jonah? What…"

"… am I doing here?" he finished when she trailed off. "Ian broadcasted a open signal, yo, that you were on the roof of Paris and needed to get off, ASAP. I guess your boyfriend–"

Amy moved faster than she had previously thought possible, going up to Jonah and slapping him with all her might. She heard a crack as a bright red mark appeared where her hand had been. He glared at her, grabbing one of her hands and twisting her around to finally pin both of her arms behind her back. She tried the same trick that she had used on Vikram, stepping down hard on his in sole. He winced slightly, but it didn't appear to hurt him as much. Holding both of her thin wrists with one hand, he grabbed what appeared to be a set of handcuffs, but instead of being connected by a chain, the cuffs were firmly attached to each other. Holding the still-thrashing Amy and wincing every so often as she found a new part of his leg or foot to stomp on, he clicked the manacles around her wrists.

Now it was Amy's turn to wince. The manacles rubbed one of the burns, and the painkiller had long since worn off. She had only been fueled by adrenaline, and that too was almost gone. Now she felt the exhaustion slowly creeping into her muscles, leaving her trembling and ready to collapse. Using the last of her strength, she slammed her head back into Jonah's face, hitting his nose and one eye. As she breathed heavily, eyes closed, she heard Jonah cursing, and felt herself drop to the floor. She had been so close. After two months of being held captive, she had been so close to freedom. And then the stupid Janus and their stupid helicopter had picked her up, and she was back into the big mess.

And what hurt most was that this time, she knew that she wouldn't be able to escape. Because just then, she had heard an earth-shattering _BOOM_ as the Lucian headquarters exploded.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Cora shook her head as she surveyed her son. He had numerous creases in his jeans and shoes, as if someone had been kicking him, hard. He also had a black eye and a very bad nosebleed. "Jonah, get yourself cleaned up. We're going to have company." she nodded towards the sky, where three sets of lights were approaching, one group faster than the others. The Lucian Shark, the Ekat Enigma, and the Tomas Power." Cora smirked. "It was a good thing that we were already in town."

As the three helicopters landed near the Janus helicopter, Cora walked out. Out of the other helicopters stepped five people. The Tomas leaders, the Ekaterina leaders, and a pale woman in a white suit with raven-black hair. She recognized the unidentified woman only from pictures, but she was unmistakable.

"Nataliya Radova," Cora spoke loudly but clearly. "I'm surprised that you are here. I thought that your… condition required you to stay inside Lucian headquarters."

Nataliya raised an eyebrow. "I thought that for a mission this… delicate, it was best that I come personally."

Cora nodded. "Now. We are, again, in possession of Amy Cahill. She somehow has the secret to the thirty-ninth clue in her DNA. We also know that it is somehow encoded. She also has the key to the code, and may have already translated the answer."

"This is the only lead to the clue. Grace made sure that there were no others," The Ekat leaders added. "So what will we do?"

"I have an idea," the soft voice belonged to Nataliya. "We Lucians are masters of code. What if I take her to Russia to try and decipher it?"

As one, the branch leaders shook their heads in a definite no.

"It's not that we don't trust you…" the Tomas began.

"… It's just that we don't trust you." Finished the Ekats. "Finally, we agree."

"I have another plan." Spoke up a voice from behind. "We take the girl and the rest of you don't get poisoned."

The leaders' mouths hung open as Isabel Kabra walked up to the group.

"Yes. I survived the explosion. I managed to find a way out in time." she turned to Nataliya. "Now," she began, her voice honey sweet. "It's time to talk to the Madrigal's representative."

All except Isabel and Nataliya looked around in confusion.

"Who?" Cora finally asked, after nobody had mysteriously stepped out from the shadows.

"Me." Everyone now turned to face Nataliya. "I am a Madrigal double agent."

Immediately, five weapons were out and pointed at her.

"You have forgotten. I cannot do combat. I am a hemophiliac." she raised her eyebrow at Isabel, the only one not to pull out a weapon. "Are you not going to kill me now, Isabel?"

Isabel's smile was bright, scarily so. "Because I know that you'll die slower if I do _this_." she launched her foot directly at Nataliya's forehead. The Russian ducked, and began sprinting towards the Shark, dodging the darts that Isabel was sending at her.

As she climbed into the helicopter, Nataliya called out to the other branch leaders. "Nice diversion, don't you think?"

They stared uncomprehendingly for a few seconds until the meaning of her words clicked in. They turned as one to see the Janus helicopter lifting off, Hamilton Holt at the cockpit.

Isabel calmly stepped forwards. "I will deal with the traitor later. Now, I believe that I have the perfect device on hand." she pulled out a small metallic disk. "This will give control of the helicopter to me." She threw the disk like a Frisbee, landing it perfectly over the engine. As she used a remote control to steer, the helicopter slowly but surely landed back on the roof of the building. She pressed a button and the cockpit filled with a sleeping gas, quickly taking out Hamilton. Isabel now smiled her cold, cruel smile.

Amy was, once again, hers.

**Hi, everybody! Sorry that I took so long. School got out on Wednesday, so the past week or two has been really chaotic. However much longer this story should be, (If I had my way, we would probably have about 100 chapters of this length at the end of the process) summer is here, and this story is quickly coming to an end. Of course, we're still in the climax, but my (probably unreachable) goal is to get this story done in 7 or 8 days, before the first chapter deletes itself from my account. I'm probably not going to manage it, but hey, it's nice to have a goal.**

**Review! Please!**


	24. Chapter 24

Amy was roughly picked up, coming out of her half-asleep state as she was getting pushed out of the helicopter and onto the roof of a building. As she started to fall, somebody caught her and dragged her away from the edge. When they were roughly in the center of the roof, they stopped, and Amy managed to stand under her own power. It was only then that she realized that she stood in the center of a circle, surrounded by the branch leaders, including–

"Isabel," Amy whispered, the loudest she could manage without coughing. Vikram was nowhere to be seen, but the female Lucian branch leader was standing right in front of her.

Isabel walked over to Amy, smiling that cold, cruel smile of hers. "You seem to be in a bit of a predicament. Let me help you out." she reached over and slapped Amy.

Amy collapsed. Even though Isabel hadn't hit as hard as Amy knew that she could, it had still been enough to set off her balance and send her crashing to the ground.

Paying no attention to the girl at her feet, Isabel took out a small, hi-tech handheld radio. "Send over the Viper."

There was yet another _whup-whup-whup_ as another helicopter approached the building. This one appeared to be only slightly slower than the shark, and yet somehow it was more magnificent. It was a sleek chrome color, and it appeared to be almost fluid, flying through the night sky. As it landed, Isabel roughly grabbed Amy and dragged her over to the Viper, ignoring her groans and occasional cries of pain. When they got to the helicopter, Amy was dropped into the area behind the cockpit.

"You probably think that I'm just going to extract your DNA and then just leave you somewhere." Isabel slowly shook her head. "No, I'm going to do much worse than that. You, Amy, are going to die within twenty-four hours. And it's not going to be quick. No," Isabel continued, pulling out a knife. "No, first I'm going to make you scream. And then…" she trailed off, apparently hearing something.

"No… mmph… going to get her… dammit, let me…" the voices from the cockpit stopped abruptly.

"Our cover's blown, isn't it?" called a voice. Amy thought that she recognized it, but, like before, she only allowed a small glimmer of hope. If they hadn't died in the explosion…

"Yeah, our cover's blown, you idiot." Amy recognized that silky British accent immediately. "N-natalie," she croaked. "H-help." she curled up in a fit of coughing.

Isabel grabbed her, hauling her up again, holding a knife to her throat like Sinead had… was it only two weeks ago? It seemed like forever. The main difference was that Amy was sure that Sinead had been making an empty threat. Isabel wasn't.

As three of the cockpit's four occupants came out, Isabel smiled a slow, cold smile. "I had wanted you to witness this."

"Oh, great." Dan turned to Ian. "Now Isabel's going to kill her! If you just hadn't spoke up…"

"Idiots," Amy coughed. All attention was suddenly on her. "Were… you not listening? She… was going to kill… me anyways."

"Enough." Natalie pulled out her dart gun. "Just drop Amy, mother."

Isabel's grip only tightened. "You shoot me, she goes down. I know where to hit to make it slow and painful."

Natalie stared at her mother for a second before shaking her head and lowering the dart gun. "You really are insane, Isabel. "

"You know, three months ago, I would have killed anyone who insulted me that badly," Isabel remarked. "Now, I'll just do _this._"

Amy didn't know exactly what she did, she just knew that there was a _crack_ and her upper leg exploded in pain. She screamed, feeling one of the jagged ends of bone penetrating her skin. She didn't dare glance down; if she did, she would faint.

Ian, Dan, and Natalie were staring in horror. Isabel had just broken Amy's leg, leaving the bone to poke through the skin, and she hadn't even flinched. She hadn't hesitated before she made a horrible injury to a girl less than half her age.

"KIDDOS!" Nellie's voice rang out. "YOU OKAY? NEED BACKUP?"

"YEAH! WE NEED BACKUP, NOW!" Dan bellowed back.

"Well, now," Isabel said, her voice quiet and deadly. "I can't have you taking Amy away. With one leg, she could still move. So I'll just need to remedy that." she once again moved so fast that Amy, in her weakened and wounded state, could hardly comprehend what was happening. There was another _crack!_ and her other leg felt like every single nerve was on fire. It was like the sharks all over again, but worse. Much, much worse. If Isabel hadn't been restraining her and holding her up, she wouldn't have been able to support her own weight.

Suddenly, there came a quiet beeping noise. Dropping Amy on the floor again, Isabel reached over to pull out her handheld two-way radio. As Ian and Dan made a move forward, as if to grab Amy, Isabel softly shook her head and placed one of her feet on Amy, effectively restraining her and letting the boys know that if they moved, she would hurt Amy even more. "Hello. This is Isabel."

The radio's words were loud enough to be heard by the other people in the helicopter, too. "Isabel Kabra. You have been removed as Lucian Branch Leader. Kindly land the Viper and surrender your gear. The successor will be chosen by the Lucian Council within twenty-four hours."

There was an audible gasp from Ian and Natalie. "Then it's over," Ian spoke in a wondering tone. Then his voice strengthened. "It's over. Isabel, let Amy go."

Isabel's lips tightened. Natalie and Ian instinctively stepped back, Dan following their lead. They had recognized what their mother looked like when she was about to unleash the nuclear explosion.

But this was bigger even than what they had seen before. This was going to be more than an atom bomb, more than a volcano. This was going to be equivalent to the earth itself exploding.

"Well then." Isabel's tone was tight. "Well then, I have no reason not to kill Amy in the most painful way possible." she yanked Amy up, ignoring the cries of pain.

"This," she spoke heavily, as though panting, and anyone could detect the fury and anger and hate in her voice. "This is for stealing our clues."

Pain again erupted, though this time in Amy's left arm. Amy shrieked as loud as she ever had. _Nobody should have to endure this much pain. Nobody._ The world was starting to grow fuzzy. Was that a… pool of blood on the floor?

"This is for ruining everything. I could be ruling the world by now! But you… you just had to intervene. So this is for ruining me." Isabel stabbed Amy's shoulder, again and again. Amy screamed again and closed her eyes. _Oh, god, kill me already…_

"And this?" Isabel walked over to the now-open hatch. "This is goodbye, Amy."

"No!" Ian shouted, and ran towards Isabel in a desperate attempt to try and stop her, but Isabel had already thrown Amy out of the helicopter, and she was leaking blood, so much blood, and she was falling, falling, falling down, down to the ground, down to the cold, hard pavement and the metal buildings of France.

Down to what Amy could only think of as death.

**Wow. Just… wow. **

**I'm pretty sure that I was channeling something or someone as I wrote that last bit. I could, like, see it. In my mind. Does this mean that I'm going crazy?**

**Awesome. The crazy bit, not the bloody bit. Of course, it is 9:30 at night, and I'm overtired, so I'm just a little bit freaky right now.**

**Review, please!**


	25. Chapter 25

Amy was falling, down… down… down to the rough pavement of Paris, soon to be a grease stain in one of the most romantic places on earth. She was plummeting towards the hard unforgiving earth, towards the rock and stone of the street.

And then she heard the one thing that she didn't expect to hear.

"Grab her!"

"Where? She's hurt!"

"Grab her on whichever arm isn't hurt, then!"

"_Both_ her arms are hurt!"

"Then grab the least hurt one!"

"She doesn't _have_ a least hurt one!"

"Just grab her!"

She felt something momentarily grasp one of her arms, but she slipped and fell out of the person's grip.

"I dropped her!"

"Then grab her again!"

Something grabbed her non-broken arm, almost ripping it out of its socket.

"Oops! Are you okay, Amy?" It was the Holt girls. One of them was steering the paraglider, while the other was holding Amy.

"You idiot, of course she's not okay. Does she look okay?"

Amy gave a little moan. It was the only sound that she could bear to make.

"Mad, she just moaned!"

"Good, I think that means that she's alive!"

"You _think?_"

As far as Amy could tell, Madison was flying and Reagan was holding her. She had no clue how Reagan was attached to the paraglider, maybe by a second harness.

Madison steered the paraglider around and landed it on the roof of a building, the same one that the branch leaders were on.

When Madison unbuckled them from the harnesses, Regan shot a death glare at the branch leaders. "Idiots! What were you thinking, leaving her with Isabel?" she called out. "Get some medical stuff here! I don't know whether she'll be able to make it!"

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

Cora stared at the girl in Reagan's arms. What had Isabel _done_ to her? "Medical support! Now!" she called out to the other leaders.

"Our support is coming."

Cora jumped, not realizing that Nataliya had landed the Shark back on the roof and walked over.

"I… Our support is much more advanced than any other branches."

Cora snorted in disbelief. "Let's continue this discussion later. First things first, what is wrong with Isabel? I mean, I knew that Isabel would treat her roughly, but this?" Cora shook her head. "I think that Isabel has finally snapped."

The two women watched as a helicopter landed on the roof. Out of it streamed Madrigals, doctors and surgeons and nurses who carried Amy onto the helicopter in a stretcher.

Nataliya shook her head. "Isabel was always crazy. She just did a better job of hiding it than most."

"Now that you mention it, I remember one of our spies coming back, babbling about the horrors of the Lucian bases. I, ah, thought that she was exaggerating, but…" Cora shrugged. "Now I may have reason to believe otherwise."

"I shudder to think of what would have happened had the young Kabras and Dan been in the helicopter."

"They were there?"

"Did you think that they would not be?"

"Point taken. How did they escape the explosion?"

"Well," A brief smile flitted across Nataliya's face. "I heard that Amy stepped on Vikram's foot and ran, drawing Isabel along with her. I expect that Natalie simply shot Vikram with one of the new poisons that Nellie gave her."

"Why new poisons?"

"Isabel and Vikram are immune or resistant to most Lucian poisons. If Natalie had shot him with one of her usual poisons, he would simply have woken up within about a minute."

"Ah. And then they ran, and Vikram died when the stronghold exploded?"

"Yes, though knowing him, Dan was a little hesitant about leaving him there."

"Why?" Cora asked. "Even he would have heard about how horrible Vikram was, and maybe even seen it himself."

The last Romanov was silent for a moment. "Your four branches inherited fighting skills. Many different types; sneakiness and strategies, martial arts, battle plans, brute strength. Madrigals, especially children Madrigals, see the best in people, or at least feel that they deserve a chance. While our records show that Amy and Dan could be of all five branches, and don't pretend that your records don't show the same, Cora, we know they do, they are most dominantly Madrigal."

Cora looked sheepish. "That _is_ why I tried to recruit Dan in China. I technically never lied."

Both women were quiet as the Madrigal's helicopter lifted up silently and flew off.

"You know that you should not have bugged Arthur and Hope's house." Nataliya said it as a statement, not a question.

The other woman shrugged. "That was what we did back then. Times are different now. Thanks to them."

They shared another moment of silence.

"Dan knows that it was you that bugged their house."

Cora raised an eyebrow. "How did he find out? He was only four."

Nataliya gave a little laugh. "The bug was on a modern art sculpture. Dan recognized it when you wore a smaller model on your necklace."

"Ah."

Cora and Nataliya were silent again as they listened to the sirens screaming through the city.

"She's going to be alright, you know." To Cora, Nataliya's worry was blatantly obvious.

"Yes. I do know."

The women shared a smile and then were gone.

KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKk

**First person, Amy's POV**

When I opened my eyes, everything was… fuzzy? And white? One of my arms and both my legs were in casts, and my other arm was wrapped in a bandage. Where was I? I tried to think back, but the last thing that I remembered was Reagan, carrying me and shouting… something to the branch leaders. Well, remaining branch leaders. "Uhh…" I moaned. "Where am I?"

I heard the sound of running feet, and a voice shouting, "She's up! Guys, she's awake!"

I heard lots of people coming into the room, and an equal amount of people quickly backing out of the room after somebody, I think it was Nellie, shouted at them to "Give her some air, she just woke up!"

Finally, somebody thought to prop me up against the headboard so that I could see everyone. I couldn't do it. I had barely enough strength left to lift up my hand. After that, I could see Dan, Nellie, Ian, Natalie, Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison standing around by bed. "What happened? Where am I? How did you guys take care of Isabel?"

Nellie laughed. "Slow down, kiddo. First of all, you're at the Madrigal hospital. Where we have all the best stuff. How did you get here? Well, once the twins landed on the roof and you fainted, our 'copter got here and airlifted you to the emergency room. Let me tell you, it was difficult. We almost thought…" she trailed off, a sad expression on her face. "Anyway, that knife that Isabel had had some kind of poison that kept the wound open. You were also dehydrated and starving, burned and bruised all over, and you had a few cracked ribs from all those times that Isabel just dropped you on the floor." she shook her head. "And Amy… we didn't take care of her. She parachuted away, and by the time we figured out where she had landed, she was long gone. We have all the best agents out there, trying to bring her in, but Isabel is a master."

_Wow,_ Amy thought. _Cliché in 3… 2… 1…_

Mr. McIntyre ran into the room. "They've caught her!" he gasped. "She slipped up in Taiwan, and our agents were able to corner her and knock her out!"

Nellie glanced at the younger people. "I need to go do Branch Leader stuff. Don't break anything. Especially not Amy." She left at a run, following McIntyre.

"Wait a second," Amy blinked in confusion. "Did Nellie just say Branch Leader stuff?"

There was a bit of shuffling and nudging each other with elbows, but finally Dan stepped forward. "So, you know how there are two leaders for each branch, one male, one female, not necessarily married?"

Amy nodded. "So, Nellie's the female Madrigal branch leader."

"Yeah."

"And Isabel was on the run, but we caught her?"

"Yep."

"How long have I been out?" she asked bemusedly. It seems like so much had happened.

Everybody shifted uncomfortably. "Um, well…" Dan's gaze flicked around the room. "Uh… Ian! Why don't you tell Amy."

Ian threw a panicked look at Dan. "Ah… Amy, you see…"

Amy was getting tired. "How long, Ian?"

"Three months."


	26. Chapter 26

Three months.

Amy Cahill had been in a coma for three months.

She stared at the others in the room. "How?" she finally managed to get out. "_Three months?_ How is that even possible?"

"Well, since you were hurt so badly… your brain just sort of… shut down, until you'd recovered enough." Reagan explained.

"For three months?"

Madison nodded. "Yeah, you had some major injuries. You were all bloody and everything, and you had bones like poking out of your skin, and–"

"Madison," Hamilton interrupted. "Please stop. Right now, descriptive is the one thing that we _don't_ want."

"But I was just describing her injuries! They were all disgusting and stuff." Pause. "Oh! Right. Disgusting. Never mind."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Munchkins!" called out a voice from the hallway.

"Don't call us that!" Dan shouted back.

Nellie walked in. "Too late. Anyway, as you may have heard earlier, we caught Isabel."

"Finally," Hamilton grumbled. "Now, may we _please_ go more than two feet outside?"

"We were confined inside?" Amy asked, curious. "Because of Isabel?"

Nellie shrugged. "Well, you know Isabel. She's a master of disguise and infiltration. She could have literally been _anywhere_."

"Then how did you catch her?" Dan demanded. "And how do you know that it's the real her?"

"We did, like, fifty different DNA, fingerprint, and MTDNA tests. It's her."

"She's not the Lucian leader, is she?" Amy asked quietly.

Nellie shook her head. "You remember what happened before she began really beating you up, right?"

"Yeah. A radio call came, saying that she wasn't branch leader anymore." Amy glanced at Ian and Natalie. "Who are the new leaders?"

"Not us." Natalie spoke up for the first time in the whole conversation. She seemed unusually subdued. "We don't deserve it."

By the reactions of the others, Natalie had been like this for the past three months. Amy decided that she had to put a stop to that attitude. "Natalie," she began, her voice firm. "None of what happened was your fault."

"But I helped," Natalie replied, her voice a whisper. "I _helped_ her. I tried to copy her, to be exactly like her. I… I idolized her. I thought that she was _perfect_." now that Natalie was voicing her worst fears, she seemed so _young_.

"Natalie." Amy's voice was firm, but gentle. "It's not your fault. She would just have found someone else to help. The first time that I met her, right before she tried to throw me to the sharks, I thought that she looked like a supermodel."

Dan stared at her incredulously. "Seriously?"

Amy shrugged. "Hey, I hadn't even been around her for a full five minutes." seeing that Natalie was about to blame herself for living with her and not seeing Isabel's horribleness, she spoke up again. "You didn't know any better. Growing up with her, all you could do is follow her example."

Natalie sniffled. "But even on the hunt I was terrible to you and Dan. I was so _mean_."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Natalie, everybody got a little mean on the hunt."

"Yeah, like when we almost got you buried alive. Sorry about that." Hamilton reminisced.

Natalie sniffled again. "But that was our fault. We'd set that trap!"

"Uh…" Hamilton searched his memory. "Or, um, that, uh, time in…" he paused for a second, trying to think up something. "Uh, Grace's mansion! You didn't set it on fire."

Natalie's face fell. Fire had been the wrong thing to bring up, Amy realized. "Natalie, nobody here blames you." she was as firm as she could be while lying on a bed with three casts, a big bandage, and an IV tube.

Ian put his arm around her shoulders, and Hamilton awkwardly patted her on the back, almost knocking her over.

"It's all right, Natalie. Most of us here made some pretty bad decisions," Ian consoled. "It's what happens in life." He glanced at Amy. "You wouldn't recognize the new leaders' names."

Amy nodded, then sighed. "It… just seems so hard to believe, that the clue hunt and everything is finally over."

"Uh, Amy?" Dan asked. "Not to interrupt your reminiscing or anything, but we don't have the last clue yet."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought that you'd have figured it out by now."

Hamilton shrugged. "Well, we didn't know which sequence. The Starlings did, but they sorta bolted once they knew that Isabel escaped the explosion."

"Ah. As it just so happens, I know the last clue." Amy rolled her eyes at their incredulous stares. "Oh, come on. For the first two or so days, I didn't have anything else to think about, and I'd memorized the sequence from the Starlings' hideout."

"Yeah, we did a really bad job of guarding that." Everybody turned to face the Starling triplets, who had seemingly spontaneously appeared in the doorway. "Don't give us that look. Once we know where a base is, we can get in it, no problemo. It's the getting out bit that's hard." Sinead shrugged.

"Where have you been for the past three months?"

"How did you get in here?"

"Have you heard about Isabel?"

"Did you guys figure out the clue?"

"Whoa, calm down." Ned grinned. "First of all…"

"… we don't know the clue yet. You guys have a…"

"… nice code. Did Grace teach it to you? Anyway…"

"… we've been tracking Isabel. It's been…"

"… really tricky. She's, like, impossible to…"

"…follow. As to how we got here…"

"… we'd tell you…"

"… but then we'd have to kill you."

Dan rolled his eyes. "You two totally stole that line from Fred and George."

"And if you talk like that anymore, you're going to give us all headaches." Reagan added.

"I'll just talk, then." Sinead smiled. "I don't think they can talk without doing it anymore."

"Hey! We can…"

"… talk normally."

"Sure." Sinead rolled her eyes. "Brothers. Either way, we just wanted to drop in and say Hi. Are you okay, Amy?"

"Define 'okay.' If by 'okay' you mean having… uh…" she looked at Ian. "List of injuries, please? Well, anyway, they don't hurt. It's more like a dull ache."

"I'm impressed. Not only because you're fairly well healed for someone who had injuries as bad as you, but because none of you are fighting."

They looked at her questioningly. "Well, if you count Nellie as Janus, then there's someone from every branch in here, and nobody's killed or maimed each other."

Everyone turned to the person beside them, seemingly suddenly realizing that they were of different branches.

Amy laughed. "I think that things are going to be different from now on. Very different…"

_~The Beginning~_

**WO-HOO! Finished! Okay, there's going to be an epilogue, but this is the last chapter.**

**Wow. As I may have mentioned before, I never expected my story to get this far. This is the only story that I've ever written that has a real ending. Or beginning. Begininning? Whatever. **

**This is, for me, a major accomplishment. Over 30,000 words, over 160 reviews, and many, many plot turns, all written within two months. The first chapter has two more days before it deletes itself of the upload page.**

**Again, wow.**

**Many thanks to everybody who reviewed, and especially to the people who reviewed the first chapter and convinced me that this wasn't a stupid idea after all, and said that I should go on with it.**

**Stay tuned for the epilogue.**


	27. Epilogue

A little girl, around five years old, runs through the twisting and turning halls of the Kabra mansion. Her dark red-brown hair, grown out long, whips behind her. Her eyes, the color of dark honey, are determined. She turns a corner and sees a man with amber eyes and cinnamon-colored skin. She changes direction only to see a red-haired woman with jade eyes. She shrieks! She is cornered.

The redhead bends down to pick her up. She squirms, trying to get down. "No, no, no!" she shouts.

"Grace Irina Kabra-Cahill," the woman says in a firm tone. "You are going to get into that bathtub and get clean, or else."

"But, mummy…" Grace trails off, frowning when she sees that her mother means what she says. "Fine."

The woman sets Grace down on the floor. Grace immediately runs in the opposite direction from the nearest bathtub.

The woman, Amy, laughs. "She reminds me of you, Ian."

Ian grins. "Really? I thought that I had been more willing to take baths."

Amy grins right back at him. "Your stubbornness, love."

A wail sounds from a distant room. Amy sighs. "Will you try to get Grace to take a bath? I'll go check on Hope and Arthur."

As Ian nods and races off, Amy walks to the twins' room. They're only two, but they've already gotten into so much trouble.

As she enters the room, she only sees one twin. Hope is sitting in the middle of the floor, sniffling. "Arfur bit me!" she mumbles.

Amy walks up to Hope, anticipating Arthur to jump out from behind something. She isn't disappointed. As she bends down to 'console' Hope, Arthur jumps out from behind the door and lands on her back.

"Boo!" he shouts. Unfortunately, he managed to jump at just the wrong time, and lands on Amy's back just as she's bending down. She topples over, narrowly missing Hope, and landing on a heap in the floor, Arthur still on her back. Hope starts giggling, fake sniffles forgotten, and soon all three are rolling on the floor, laughing and tickling each other.

After a while, Amy stands up. "Time for bed, you two," she says gently. None of her three children like bedtimes.

Again, as expected Arthur and Hope put up a fuss. "No, mummy, no!" Hope shouts. "I'm 'wake, see?" her effect is ruined by a huge yawn.

"Of course you're awake." Amy whispers. She picks up both drowsy twins and lays them down in their cribs. "Goodnight," she whispers as she turns out the light.

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, Ian is having some difficulty putting Grace to bed. "But daddy, I'm awake!" she says, bouncing up and down.

"All right. How about this. You crawl under the covers, and I'll tell you a story."

Grace nods. Stories are the best.

"Once upon a time, there was a very mean lady, and her very mean husband."

Grace bounces under the covers. She likes this story.

"The mean lady had a son. Now, this son knew a girl. She was a very nice girl."

"But the mean lady didn't like her!"

"That's right, the mean lady didn't like her. So the mean lady hurt the girl, and tried to kill her. But the nice girl got away, and she ran off with the boy."

"And they lived happily ever after!"

"Not quite, honey. After a while, when they were old enough, they got married."

"And they had three kids!"

"Yes, they did. One of their names was Grace Irina Kabra-Cahill. She was very beautiful. She had skin the color of light honey, and dark brown-red hair. Her eyes were beautiful, the color of dark honey."

Grace bounced. "That's me!"

"Yes, that's you! The other two kids were twins. Their names were Hope Nataliya Kabra-Cahill and Arthur Nikolai Kabra-Cahill. They were also very beautiful."

"But I'm still beauty-full, right?"

"Of course you are. Hope and Arthur looked more like their mother. They both had eyes the color of dark jade, and hair the exact same color as their mother. Their skin was the color of maple syrup."

"Yum! Maple syrup is yummy." Grace was starting to get tired. "Daddy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Why was the mean lady mean?"

"Everybody has their own reasons for being mean. We don't know hers, but I'm sure that she had a reason."

"Oh, okay."

Ian turned the lights off. As he was about to close the door, Grace asked one more question.

"Daddy? Is the mean lady your mummy?"

Ian was quiet for a minute. "Yes, she was."

"I saw a painting of her once. She looks a lot like me. Does that mean that I'm going to be mean, too?" Ian could hear an undertone of fright in the girl's voice.

"No, honey. Of course it doesn't. You can be whatever you feel like."

"Okay, then." her voice was getting softer. "G'night."

"Goodnight." Ian whispered, and closed the door.

Ian walked to his bedroom to find Amy already waiting for him. "Which story did you tell her this night?" she asked.

"Which story did I tell her last night?" he laughed. "It's the same one every night."

"Ian?"

"Yes, love?"

"You seem distracted. Did something happen?"

Ian sighed. "She asked more about Isabel. She was worried, because she'd noticed from a picture that she looked like Isabel, and she didn't want to be like the 'mean lady.'"

"She's a smart girl. Soon, she'll be asking about the Branches and the Clues and everything."

"Well, tomorrow will answer some of her questions."

"Why? What's tomorrow?"

"Amy, we just planned it yesterday."

"Oh, right! Tomorrow's when we're having the Hunt's reunion."

"Yes. Everyone will be there. Dan, Reagan, and Madeleine, Madison, Ned, and… what's his name? Josh. And everyone else."

"Not everyone."

"Well, obviously. Isabel's in prison, Jonah is busy, and Hamilton is who-knows-where."

"Everest."

They smile at the other, remembering Ian's near-death encounter. But after a few seconds, Amy's eyes cloud up in remembered pain.

Ian steps forward and holds her tightly. "Love, it's all right. It's the past. Remember, inhale… exhale. Inhale… exhale."

After a few moments, Amy calms down. "It's all right, Ian. I'm fine. They're just memories."

And it's true. The scars all over her face and body, the places where she got burned and stabbed, have long since healed over. The emotional pain has long since healed, in the fifteen years since the hunt.

All is well.

**And that's the end! Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed, story alerted, and favorited. I'm pretty sure that I said everything that needed saying last chapter.**

**Oh, right! A prequel. **

**I'm considering making a prequel. I will put up a poll on my account (for real this time) and leave it up till the end of summer, which is the earliest time when I will even begin to consider actually making a prequel. **

**Good-bye all, and I hope that everyone has an amazing summer.**

**-Miranda Cahill of Conté**


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